


Familiar Smile On An Unfamiliar Face

by Anon1Adult



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cap-Iron Man Big Bang 2013, F/M, Gen, M/M, Oral is encouraged but doesn’t actually happen, Tony/Toni use offensive language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-09
Updated: 2013-11-09
Packaged: 2017-12-31 22:05:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 33,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1036903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anon1Adult/pseuds/Anon1Adult
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He took in the familiar bright eyes, the curve of the cheekbone, the playful smile of the lips. He wanted to convey how appreciative he was of them offering their house when they could have left him with Reed to wait out whatever had happened. But all that came out was- "You're a girl."<br/>Steve and Tony are both suddenly, without warning, separated and deposited into two different universes where they both meet happily married versions of Iron Man and Captain America.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Familiar Smile On An Unfamiliar Face

**Author's Note:**

> Lovely [ Artwork Link! ](http://anon1adult.tumblr.com/post/66433093962/spider-blog-this-is-my-artwork-for-the-big)  
> From the amazing [ spider-blog.tumblr](http://spider-blog.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Made for the Cap-Iron Man Big Bang 2013!  
> New to this whole thing still so if you see mistakes feel free to point them out!

Tony

"So you mean to tell me you pulled another me from his own universe because he was going to get into a fight?" Tony asked standing in the middle of Richard's lab.  

"No. I tried to pull both Iron Man and Captain America into this universe so you and our Captain America could talk some sense into them before the possibility of a fight happens." Richard answered tapping away at the multiple screens in front of him. "I managed to grab both of them but only Iron Man was brought through. Captain America is in dimension 1026. I've let that Mr. Fantastic know to be on the lookout for another Captain America. He will get back with me if there is contact."   

Tony cradled his forehead in his hand trying to stave off the impending headache. "How long will the two of them be away from their dimension?"  

"At this time it will be 3 days, a week at the most."   

"And I suppose I'm to look after my duplicate until then?"   

"That is why I called you." Reed reminded him.    

"Right. Where is he?"

"He offered to take a look at the holographic display prototype. He should be around here somewhere."  

Tony couldn't refrain from sighing as he started walking further into Reed's lab. The man was a piece of work able to lose two superheroes in a manner of hours. Losing Captain America in the jump was unfortunate but letting Iron Man out of his sight to get lost in his own lab had a much more immediate consequence if he didn't know what he was doing. Not that he doubted his abilities developed in another dimension, but Richard's lab was at best a land mine. Normally Tony wasn't one to talk about a lab in disarray but Reed's took the cake. How did Sue put up with it? If it where his own-   

"There you are." He called spotting a familiar hair style. The man was wrist deep in cables spilling from the back of a server rack. The misplaced man turned from the bundle of wire to focus on the greeting. They sized each other up as Tony came to stand next to the rack. Expect his eyes were a bright honey color, they were a mirror image.   

***  

"Good to know I'm just as good looking in every universe." The misplaced Tony remarked with a smile.

The chuckle that came from his duplicate was surprisingly genuine. "And the award winning personality made it as well. The team is going to love this. Come on, Reed said he needed some samples."   

Tony turned back to the rack, "Okay, just let me-"

"No. I'm late as it is. If all Reed needs is a blood sample we'd be lucky. Leave it, I can have someone move it to the tower so you'll have something to do while you're here." 

Tony had worked through the lecture, buttoning up the cable mess as quickly as he could. "Done. It looks like hell, and needs a more reliable power source but it should be ready to use." He closed the doors and turned to follow his counterpart.

There was a familiar questioning frown on the local Tony's face. "How long have you been here?" 

"That would depend on what time it is."   

"Just after 8:30."   

"Almost three hours." 

The blue eyed Tony made a sound of acknowledgement then turned and started walking back towards the main section of lab. "Holographic Display huh? Motion or voice activated?"

Tony fell in step with him, "Motion for now. It would need a more advanced interface for voice activation. It took me a few months to build the architect for my interface to be able to accept commands from everyone, no voice or motion print required. Toying with the notion of a computer implant but I need more data before physical integration.”

His twin nodded along, "I already have the motor functions of the brain mapped. Incorporating the thought process can't be all that much more difficult."   

"You have the entire brain mapped by motor function?" Tony asked impressed. That was no easy feat by any stretch of the imagination.   

"Sure do. It was a necessity for being able to walk." His cutting blue eyes glanced at him for a moment before returning forward to navigate back to Reed. "A story for another time." He added as an afterthought. 

Tony raised an eye brow at the dismissal but let it slide, "Brain mapping sounds like a good idea but the possibility of that brain taking on consciousness and finding a suit and creating its own army is far too likely."   

His counterpart turned to him with a raised eye brow, "Speaking from experience?"   

"I've spent more time trying to stop that abomination from taking over the world than I have anything else in my life. If I regret anything, it's that."   

"Universe 109 Anthony Stark." Reed greeted them, "Born May 8th 1971. Life sustained due to imbedded electromagnet in the chest cavity." Reed turned from his screen and motioned towards the medical table next to him. With an eye roll Tony pulled off his long sleeved shirt, leaving him in a sleeveless black undershirt. The light pattern from the reactor shown through the material. 

"Why is that necessary?" He counterpart asked staring at the circle of light.

"Shrapnel lodged next to my heart. This" He drummed his fingers across the light "keeps it from getting any closer." Recognizing emotions with other people really wasn't Tony's thing, but he could tell by the look in his counterpart's dark blue eyes he was having an internal conflict.

Reed's fingers wrapped around his bicep, the grip light as he brought a needle to his skin and pulled a small sample of blood. "Tony had a similar experience that caused him to build a complete exosuit that later became the Iron Man armor." Reed moved back to his computer unaware of the awkward pause in conversation.

His counterpart sighed and fixed his blue eyes on the circle of light in his chest. "After a weapons demonstration, my escort convoy was attacked. I thought I had enough time to run away from the bomb so I turned my back. I made it about five steps before it tore through my lower spine and the back of my leg." Tony watched him move a hand to his back and hold it there. A move he'd done countless times to reassure himself the R.T. was still in place.

"The attackers brought me to an outdated lab and demanded I build them a weapon. I couldn't walk so I begged to be able to fix myself first. Yinsen helped remove most of the shrapnel but the one against my spine he couldn't do anything with. So I built something similar,” he motioned to Tony’s chest, “something to keep the shrapnel in place. I turned the metal of the shrapnel into a conductor so I was able to transfer brainwaves through it. I couldn't use my legs before the implant. And the shrapnel has become part of me. I can't remove it or I'll never be able to walk.”

Tony made sure to keep his expression neutral as he stared at his counterpart. No sense in staring in open shock at the man. The fact that they reacted differently to the bomb made him wonder how many other universes were without their Tony Stark's because they didn't live past the explosion. Or the escape.

A machine beeped in front of Reed and he turned to them and made a shooing motion. "Three days and then come back and see me about returning home."

"Thanks Reed. It's been a pleasure." His counterpart started for the elevator, not waiting for him to catch up.

"I'd like to go straight home if that's alright with you? You don't need anything before we get there? Medication or anything?"   

"Clothes, but I'm assuming you're like me and have a spare room complete with clothes for random guests."   

"Oh good, it's not just us that welcome in strays."   

"If I bring them home they don't stay long enough to warrant a guest room, my bed is fine. If you mean strays with the team, so far we've been unable to convince a certain teenager to stop swinging around in his pajamas."   

His counterpart was frowning a bit, "Still running around with the play boy act?"

"Of course. Have yet to find a woman capable of making the renowned Tony Stark settle down." His counterpart laughed a loud bark of surprised laughter. It was a laugh of a man free of internal pain and self-loathing. He had to wonder what made them so different that he wasn’t able to do that.

There was a red sports car sitting in front of the building, his counterpart rounded the car to get into the driver's seat.

"It's a red Saturn." Tony started to protest.

"I bought it interested in the body of the car, not what was under the hood. It was an inexpensive, unassuming car I could put my repulser tech into. Get in."

***  

The car ride back to the tower was mostly in silence as Tony took in the visual differences in this world. So far the worlds were almost mirrors of each other, minute details varied here and there. All minor details, except for Stark Tower. It looked like an impressive feat of Engineering. Visually it looked much more advanced than his skyward sweeping structure. The base had a train system separating the first few floors into what looked like two separate two buildings. The structure connected above the train station for several floors before branching into two buildings that went up about 40 stories then reconnected to create a tear shape space between them, then continued for to the sky for another 20 floors.

"And that's structurally sound?" He wondered aloud.

"Of course. It's also build like an iceberg, the basement alone could house more than half the city. I can show you the blue prints when we get to the penthouse. Come on."   

The lobby of the Tower looked a lot like his tower back home. The plant at the front desk was more welcoming somehow but other than that the colors were even the same tone.

The ride up in the elevator was spent in relative silence. His counterpart seemed to be humming with anticipation. Which set Tony on edge because that meant there would be something unfamiliar in a mostly familiar setting.

"JARVIS."

"The Captain has returned as is awaiting you arrival in the sitting room and Master Isaac should be home within the hour."

"Thanks." He gave Tony a disarming smile that just served to put him on further edge. They were a step outside the elevator when a tall blond waltzed in.

She was wearing Steve's uniform. Well, a version of Steve's uniform. It still had the star in the center of the chest, the red and white vertical stripes started a few inches below her bust and continued to the utility belt strapped around her slim waist. The red combat boots came to mid-calf.   

Behind her he saw the shield propped up against the lounge chair, the red gloves tucked around the edge protecting the soft leather of the chair. The cowl was pulled back reveling her tossed blonde pixie cut that fell forward, framing her heart shaped face. Aside from the uniform she did look a lot like his Captain America. Her eyes looked like they were the same bright azure blue, the smile at her mouth had the same shape as Steve's, framed by lips a little fuller than he was used to.  

Although the way his counterpart swept her up in his arms was new.

And the kissing was definitely something exclusive to this world.

"This one isn't evil is he?" He heard her ask with her arms wrapped around his double's neck. "Of course not Dear, _I_ don't bring home dangerous strays. That's your department."   

Her smile turned sharp, making him wince slightly and start to back pedal. "I will be earning my right to sleep in the bed for the rest of the day wouldn't I?"

With a sigh she gave him a peck on the cheek, "If I kick you out you'll end up in the guest bedroom and although you would deserve it, our real guest will have nowhere to sleep."

She turned to Tony and smiled at him, holding out a hand. "Hello Tony. I'm Stella Rogers-Stark. It's nice to meet you."

Presented with a beautiful woman his old habits kicked in. Noting the lack of calluses on her offered hand as he bent to kiss the back of her knuckles. "It's a pleasure ma'am."   

"Oh that's a Stark alright." She said with a laugh, her husband took back the hand she had offered and ran his thumb over her knuckles almost as if to wipe away the kiss. "Would you like something to drink?" She offered clasping her husband's hand in both of her own.

"As long as it's something stronger than water, I'd love to." A flicker of disapproval flashed across her face before it disappeared behind another dazzling smile. 

"The sitting room then." She offered.   

He followed the couple into a large room with an appropriately large couch and several individual chairs. Stella perched on the arm of a chair while her husband busied himself at the bar.

"So what brings you to our world?" Stella asked as Tony took to the adjacent seat. "Reed actually made this an unplanned visit. Wasn't even able to pack so much as an Allen wrench."

She frowned slightly, her perfect eyebrows pulling together. "What did he need you for? Is there something happening we should be aware of?" His counterpart handed him a tumbler of brandy and seated himself in the chair Stella had claimed.

He handed her a glass of water and reclined in the chair as she leaned into his shoulder in what looked like a long practiced position for them. It was fortunate Tony had long sense lost his ability to be intimidated because they were a sight. His counterpart leaned back in the deep seated black leather chair. Stella looked like a predator leaning against his shoulder, relaxed but ready to spring in any direction at a moment’s notice.

"No, no, if your Reed is anything like the Reed back in my world this was just a random kidnapping. More or less to see how my eye color compares to the original."

"Maybe." She started, with a meaningful glance at her husband that held more weight than a loving look between partners. Stella broke their silent battle of wits, "We think there is something happening with Reed. He's been behaving strangely."

"But it could just be Reed's way of trying to get out more." His counterpart said resting a hand on her thigh. 

"I doubt asking about how often I preform my wifely duties is his way of getting out." She snapped glaring down at the glass of water in her hand. 

"Watching Sue give him a tongue lashing was more than worth the awkwardness of answering him." His counterpart chuckled.   

"Madam, it is 10:30. Happy will be here in ten minutes." A familiar British accent announced.

"Of course, thank you JARVIS. Boys, if you'll excuse me." She leaned over her husband to set her glass on the low table at his elbow. They shared soft words before she gave him a peck on the lips then stood and sauntered from the room.

They both watched her leave and sat in silence until they heard the elevator ding signaling her departure from the floor.

"Say it." His double demanded as he picked up her water glass from the table. 

"Say what?" Tony asked trying to keep the pout out of his voice as he twirled the liquid in his own glass. 

"I know me. After an encounter like that you'd have questions. Especially because Reed mentioned on the phone the Captain America in your universe is a man."

Tony threw the drink back in one swallow then stood to refill his glass. "Doesn't mean Iron Man feels any differently towards Captain America."

"On a professional level of course, but how does Tony Stark feel towards Elijah or Joel or Gabriel?"

Tony laughed as he poured two fingers into the glass. "You went a little biblical there, do you need a moment?"

"Snarky bastard," He muttered, "had to sit and scour those books to find the perfect name. Don't try to deflect."

Tony returned to his seat and collapsed into it with a sigh. "His name is Steve."

His counterpart raised his eyebrows and hummed, "That was one of the top ten I had picked out myself. Steve huh? Tell me about Steve."

Tony stared down at the glass in his hand. "He's-. Steve is.-" Tony sighed and closed his eyes, in his mind eye he could see Steve sitting at the kitchen table, Newspaper spread out in front of him as he ate breakfast. The mirth in Steve eye as he trying not to laugh at something Tony had said at a less than appropriate time. A bead of sweat Steve wiped away from his forehead after a particularly aggressive workout session. Captain America in full gear taking in a situation half a moment before he commanded the team to do exactly what was needed to save the day. The way his real smile was so rare but would light up a room and make Tony's battered heart skip a beat.

"Steve is the metal wire to my electricity. Alone there are so many applications for him, so many ways he can do good anywhere he goes. But me, without him, I don't have a sense of balance, a sense of control, nothing to channel me with. Yeah I can be a powerful force alone but when I'm with him everything just runs smother."

He looked up to find his blue eyed counterpart watching him with a soft smile.

"If I had JARVIS play that back to my Ella she'd kiss me into the ground."

The thought brought out a quiet laugh. "I can say that all I want and all I'd get would be a friendly pat on the back." He tossed back the liquid in another self-depreciated, long practiced move.

"Tell me about business." His counterpart demanded after a moment. Tony saw the out when it was offered. "Business is finally up after the weapons withdrawal."

***  

Steve

Trying to force Tony out of the lab this morning at 5:00 shouldn't ever end up with him running down the darkened streets of New York after punching a Captain American imposter in the jaw.

Tony, had yet again, stayed up all night working. Normally he wouldn't be so nosey in Tony's sleeping habits, but he knew for a fact Tony had pulled an all-nighter the night before. And today he was at the point in the project here he was working with the welding torch.   

It just wasn't a good situation.   

He hated arguing with Tony, he knew that being down in the garage was where Tony was his happiest and he always felt a small twinge of guilt for pulling Tony away from his projects. But the man needed his sleep.  

It wasn't his responsibility to look after Tony, as Pepper kept reminding him, and most often he didn't. He had his own projects SHIELD tried to keep him busy with but the more missions they sent him on the more the Avengers seemed to need him at home. SHIELD was good for detecting the threats, not so good at combating the truly weird stuff like the Avengers were. Which is why he spent so much time in the tower and by association, Tony.

Between training sessions with each team member and informing Tony gear upgrades needed to happen because a certain archer refused to acknowledge he left his left guard down while he was strung tight. Steve refused to allow one of his team members to get hurt when he could have done something to avoid it. It was a pattern that had Steve suggesting a cot be moved into the lab so Tony technically wouldn't have to _leave_ the lab. But Tony's pride and lack of self-health kept it from it from actually happening. But it didn't stop Steve from threatening him with it, nor did it stop him from moving a couch to the corner to accommodate Tony's "maybe-a-few-seconds" naps.

Really he should stop thinking about the ugly brown sofa and start thinking about trying to blend in to the not so familiar street he was currently running down.

The imposter he'd been able to land a solid hit on wasn't alone. He'd thought he'd heard Clint's voice yelling directions as he'd fled but wasn't willing to stop to hear him out.

He had been standing in the garage, slowly coaxing Tony to turn off the machinery and lie down when there was a flash of blindingly bright rainbow colors then he was standing on the street about 8 blocks from the tower.

Returning to the scene of the crime was probably going to be the best place to find answer so he started that direction at a jog. He was four blocks away when he noticed the skyline was different. There was a narrow opening between two buildings where he should have been able to see the light colored structure. It wasn't there. As the meaning behind that set in, he started running down the street, instincts and general panic fueled his need to see the tower. To see the building he had been calling home for almost two years now. To see the building where Tony would be. God, he hoped Tony was ok. Three blocks away he couldn't see the peak of the tower. Two blocks away the balcony should have been visible.

He ducked into an alley, pausing to reevaluate the situation when he heard the whistle of his shield slicing through the air. He brought his own shield up to deflect it. The dull thud the shields made when they collided sent a cold shiver down his spine. Something was so very wrong. Trusting his instincts, he took off down the road. As if from a nightmare, a Captain America dropped to the ground in front of him, blocking his first escape route. They’d had a run in with shape shifters before, but none so arrogant as to face him head on. They faced off silently for half a moment before the other advanced on him. Using his own shield to knock away the other’s, left them both exposed for half a moment and Steve wasted no time in using that opening. He landed a solid punch, enough to snap the imposter’s head to the side then shoved past him continuing with his original escape plan.

It was still dark so it wasn't difficult to blend into the shadows and evade Hawkeye on his hover bike. Steve made it to the roof of a nearby residential building and sat under the awning watching the sun rise on an unfamiliar skyline. 

There were four identifying buildings, similar yet so different. The Empire State Building of course, that was a small relief in itself. The next was the Stark tower, but it was on the other side of the Empire State Building than what he was used to. The shape was similar with it sweeping to one side, but it had three looping balconies instead of just the single one with the Avengers 'A' on it. The third building was Oscorp. It had taken a minute for Steve to place where he had heard that name and then felt foolish for it not coming to him immediately. Norman Osborn was not a good man. His personal vendetta against Spider-Man was concerning to say the least. And the fourth was the smaller Baxter building. Somehow the square building didn't look as high tech as the similar square building that he was used to.

"Captain Steven Rogers." A voice startled him to his feet, shield out in a defensive stance. If he hadn’t been so disciplined he might have yelped in surprise.

"Welcome to universe 5694. I'll need you to come with me so I can get some samples."   

The owner of said building, Reed Richards was standing across from him. Well that was a bit creepy, Steve thought as he held his shield steady. This Reed Richards looked young, much younger than the Richards he was used to. This Reed's face was smooth of wrinkles and his temples free of graying hair.

"That's Reed's way of asking nicely." Iron Man quipped from his hovering position a few feet above the scientist.

The repulsers were the softest hiss in the wind which explained why he had missed him standing so close. The flame from the boots was mostly white with the slightest tint of red. So unlike the white blue flame that kept Tony's suit air born.   

"If you'll please Iron Man," Reed motioned towards Steve half-heartedly, "I need to calibrate the tracer to detect if any others came over with him." Reed was already tapping away at the back of the machine he held in his hand.

Iron Man's frustration was clear through the voice modulator, "Reed, he said it was only one. He managed to pull the other one through to his world; if more than one came over they would still be together."   

When his protest went ignored he gave an audible sigh landing next to Steve with a soft mechanical whirl. "Are the Reeds of every world this hopeless?"

Steve stood up straighter, lowering his shield to his side. "He's a brilliant man. It's been an honor to fight next to him during the world's time of peril."

The sound Iron Man made was probably a snort, but in the voice projector it was a sharp hiss. "Oh, stop the boy scout act. We already know you're the same in every universe. Reed is an ass and everyone knows it."

Steve felt himself smile slightly. Sure this wasn’t his universe, but Tony was here so it couldn't be too bad. "Reed has his moments. And from what I can see, I think being an ass is a requirement to be a genius in every world." From the dip of the chin and the angle of the faceplate Steve imagined he was on the receiving end of a dirty look. "What did you mean the other one?"

Iron Man straightened and looked off over the city, "You and the Iron Man from your dimension were pulled through and apparently separated along the way." He held up a hand before Steve could interject, "Your Iron Man is safe in universe 1026. Tony by the way.”

He offered his gauntlet hand and Steve shook it with a small smile, “Steve.”   

"I don't detect any other unnatural bodies. We can head back to the lab now." Reed informed them tapping at the device in his hands. 

"Goodie. As if it wasn't early enough, you want to run tests on a subject two other Reed Richards have already completed substantial tests on?" The sarcasm probably wasn't needed but really it didn't matter because- Reed's bright eyes finally looked up at Iron Man, his brows pulling together slightly. "Of course." -it went right over Reed's head.  

Iron Man shook his head then held out both arms, "Alright. Everybody on board, let's make this snappy."

Reed immediately moved to Iron Man's side, one mechanical arm coming down to wrap around his waist as Reed looped an arm over his shoulder. He help out an expectant arm for Steve who blinked at him in confusion. How did he expect to fly both of them without use of his arms?

"Come on Cap, we don't have all day." At the gibe, Steve hesitantly moved closer. 

"I can see the building from here, it wouldn't be any trouble-" "Cut the shit and get over here. Shield over my shoulder, right foot on my left, please tell me I'm not popping your Iron Man flight cherry because two for two in one lifetime is more than I could ever hope to ask for."   

Steve clenched his teeth to somehow stop Tony from being so vulgar. How was it that Tony was able to get under his skin so easily? With his lips pursed he marched forward, switched arms with his shield as he walked to throw an arm over Tony's shoulder and step on an armor encased foot as he had suggested. The sturdy metal of the suit wrapped around his waist and pulled him closer.

The mechanical voice of the suit muttered a soft, "Hang on Love." Then they were air born.

The abruptness of the takeoff stole Steve's breath from his lungs and left his stomach on the roof top. They flew hard and fast towards the Baxter building, the city below zipping by at a blur. An unassuming window of the building opened allowing the three of them to fly inside at a quick pace. Tony hovered for a moment before cutting power to the repulsers.

Reed was already walking away, not sparing Tony a second glance. Steve tried to step away fluently, but as he moved away his shield hit the back of Iron Man's head with a clang and he doubled over, hands on his knees trying to get his breath back.

A firm metallic hand found the center of his chest and another landed on his shoulder as he helped ease him to an angle that would allow air flow into his lungs. "Just breath. That's it, steady breaths. In out, in out. That's good Steve, just keep breathing."

Steve tried to stand up straight but the sudden tipping of the Earth had him back to his hands on his knees. "That really was your first time flying with the suit wasn't it? Should have gone easier on you, my Steve threw up the first time." Steve took a deep lung full of air and exhaled as he stood up. Tony had just referred to this world's Steve as 'my'. With a touch of melancholy he wondered if it was a Freudian slip or if they were just close enough to be comfortable with that level of familiarity.

"Captain, over here if you would." Reed called now tapping away at the screens in front of him. He would shift between screens with precise foot work. It was actually quite weird to not have the man stretching all over the place.   

"The table there. And your shirt off."   

Steve set down his shield and went about taking off his chainmail. The gloves first, then his belt that kept the stripes in place. He wanted vertical stripes, not his stomach to look like a candy cane during a physical battle. He laid the chainmail over his shield and turned towards Reed who was waiting with a syringe. "Not too much." Steve warned holding out his arm. 

"I just need enough to make a positive ID and then run comparisons." Reed assured him.

With the syringe a quarter full of fluid Reed turned back to his monitors. The voice modulator of the Iron Man suit gave a low toned whistle. Steve glanced sharply at him only to find him with one hand on his hip and a tilt of the faceplate that made him feel like he was on the end of a lewd look. "Maybe I have been letting my Steve slack off more than I should. Is working out all you do? Because, damn."

Steve felt his cheeks heat up. How was it the complements by this world's Iron Man so easy to come by? And he had called his counterpart 'my Steve' again.   

"Initial tests indicate you are from universe 109. Steven Grant Rogers. Born July 4th 1918."   

"God you're old." Iron Man narrated to his side.

"Super Solider Serum continuing to run at peak levels with no mutations."

Iron Man and a half dressed Captain America stood in Reed Richard's lab as he listed off identifying pieces of information about the out of place Captain America.

"What are the chances that all the Captain America's were born on July 4th?" Iron Man wondered aloud as Reed started to mutter to inaudibly talk to himself about the data presented.

"Never given it much thought but it wouldn't be very Captain America like to not be born on the 4th of July." Steve replied. 

"No, it wouldn't be very Captain America like to not be born on Independence Day. What if there are universes where the Independence Day is on the 5th or the 6th, would that Captain America is born on those days, or on the 4th?" 

Steve shrugged a bare shoulder, "I suppose we would be born the same day as our nation. Really it only makes sense for the birth dates to coincide." Iron Man nodded in agreement.

"Every universe we’ve ever encountered the original Captain America was born on Independence Day and those days varied from January 1st to December 16th. Falling in early July 97% of the time.”

A soft hum and Reed’s tapping prevented the awkward silence from really being completely silent.

"Did Reed just contribute something relevant to a conversation? If I wasn’t convinced the world was going to end, I am now. God I don't wanna die in New York. I'd settle for Malibu, I miss my house." 

Steve sighed at his dramatics. "What about the tower? Don't you like living in the tower?"

Iron Man turned to face him, a hand on his hip. "Is this a ploy by Pepper to get me to go into the office more? Why would I want to live in Stark Enterprises' tower?"

"Your Avengers team isn't stationed at the tower?"   

"Everyone lives in my family Mansion, lord knows it's big enough. Your team is stationed in Stark tower?"   

Steve pulled his shirt back on, "We call it Avengers tower but yeah."

Behind Steve the elevator doors swooshed open. "Wondered where you disappeared to." Iron Man said to the new comer.

Steve turned on the table to see-himself. Well his counterpart. It was surreal to see a mirror image of himself walk across the room.

"Decided to turn it into an early morning sweep with Hawkeye."

"Did you find him?"

"No. But we did see some of his clean up. He strung a fella from a light pole again, the authorities had to wait for the fire department to arrive with the ladder but he was long gone before we arrived on site."

His counterpart was wearing full gear, complete with cowl and shield. His uniform looked almost identical except the chain mail was replaced with a Kevlar looking material. The bruised yellow green discoloring of his mostly healed jaw made Steve wince internally.   

“Hello, sorry about the right hook.”

"Hi, and it's understandable. I would have done the same thing if I’d been dropped into another world with to formal notice."

“Only you would think to actually _give_ someone a formal notice before pulling them from their world.” Iron Man commented, only to receive a heated look from Captain America.

Steve had been in enough fights with Iron Man to know the tell tail signs of a verbal brawl brewing.

"We're recovering from a shape shifting alien invasion back in my world. Couldn't take the risk of being out numbered." He steered the conversation away from a confrontation between the two.

His counterpart’s focus moved from Iron Man to Steve then nodded sagely. "Had one of those our self a few years back. How they managed to steal Hawkeye and Wasp right out from under us I'll never know. But I'll tell you what, it wouldn't happen again."   

“You’re damn right it won’t. That damn alien detector is flawless. We’ll know if they’re within 200 miles of Earth itself.” A small smile appeared on his counterpart’s lips, his eyes softening a fraction.

Steve’s stomach took that moment to growl loudly. Three sets of eyes turned towards him at the sound and Steve felt his cheeks flush. It's a natural body function but did it have to be so loudly obvious?

"And on that note I will get food, you two head back to the tower. Deal? Yes? Good." Iron Man hovered for a fraction of a moment then flew towards the opening window. His counterpart shook his head, his sign audible in the now quite lab after Tony's sudden departure.

"Shall we?" He asked turning towards the exit. Steve nodded gathering his gloves and shield.

"Good bye, thank you Reed!" Steve called as he fell in step with his counterpart.

"Expect communications from me in three days." Reed called after them.

The elevator ride was quick, but silent. They didn't speak until they were out on the street, walking towards what Steve presumed the mansion. Once they were outside he noticed the tension from his double's shoulders vanish.

"Something about Reed was really off." His counterpart commented as they stood on a corner, waiting for the light to change. It was early enough there weren't a lot of people out so Steve wasn't too worried about possible backlash of two Captain Americas being seen together. 

"The Reed I'm familiar with is a bit more social although the science does distract him extremely easily."  

 The native shook his head, "This Reed is usually more sociable too but from what Iron Man was telling me he was more distracted than we'd consider for Reed to be normal. Tony had mentioned he was particularly interested in positively ID-ing you from the universe the other Reed said you were from."  

"When did you have a chance to talk with Tony?" He asked glanced at his counterpart, unsurprised it was like looking into a mirror.

"Tony's had the com line open since they found you. I heard everything. The suit has a built in line to mine, separate from the audio output."

Steve nodded. He had something similar set up with his To- the Tony from his world. A private line they could communicate across and not use the air space on the team's line.

"We've been discussing Reed's behavior for the past few days. He's young, but he is brilliant. We are a little worried his youth would make him an easy target for manipulation. Normally he's too involved in his work to cause much concern but he's been calling Tony for input on projects more often lately. The concern comes from the questions he's been asking Tony after they're together."

Steve was familiar with the jealousy that filtered across his mirror's face. "It's like he was fishing for information. Personal information. About us." Steve hoped how quickly his gaze snapped to counterpart would be overlooked, a slight eye brow raise and it was. "Normally Reed would care less about anyone's personal life so we feel there is reason for caution."

"Do you have any idea who he would be gathering information for?" Steve asked trying to refocus on the issue at hand and not the ease of familiarity this world's Superhero duo used with each other.

They arrived at a large gated fence, which swung open soundlessly as the two of them approached.

"None that we can determine. Tony looked into it a few nights ago but he's just been talking with the other universe's Reed Richards. Which is nothing new."

They crossed the short walkway into the mansion, silent as they were both lost in thought. They entered the double doors of the mansion to a large entry hall with an Imperial Staircase at the far wall. There were large double doors along both walls and door frames that opened up to other areas of the house just before each flight of stairs. His counterpart directed him towards the kitchen when a thought occurred to Steve. "What if it _is_ a Reed Richards that's asking for information?"

They shared a startled look, partly because Steve couldn't believe he had said it and his double couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it. They crossed the entry way then into the kitchen before they both broke out in laughter. "Reed" Steve wheezed, "Reed Richards. Evil!"

There was a curvy brunette sitting at the modern looking kitchen island with her back to them. Their loud entry didn't draw her attention away from the small device projecting holograms in front of her. Steve was slightly hopeful he was about to meet an Avenger he didn't know.

With a lingering chuckle Steve's counterpart dropped a kiss to the top of her wavy hair.

Ok, so his girlfriend of this world hung out in the Avenger's headquarters. Which made sense as it was probably safer and more secure than a standard apartment building if their enemies found out about her.

The physical touch seemed to bring her out of her trance because she waved a hand towards a few bags of take out, "Went for Italian, wasn't sure how the new guest would have handled Thai. Carbs." She explained continuing to tap at the tablet, not looking at them.

"Italian is fine." Steve supplied grabbing a takeout box. His counterpart sat next to her and Steve sat at on the corner so he could see them both.   

"Wait," she said, suddenly looking up at them. Her eyes were the same bright honey color as his world's Tony. There was the beginning of smile lines at the corner of her eyes. She even had Tony's high cheek bones.

Maybe this world's Tony had a sister? He could see himself going steady with a sister of Tony's.   

"Because there are two of you do I have to wait around as you both get all broody on me?" 

His counterpart sighed, "I'll see if we can't keep it to a minimum. Stop being rude." Trying to keep the disapproval of such blunt language at a lady off his face, he turned back to his pasta.

"But you see where I'm coming from right? I leave you two alone in a room and after 2 minutes it's going to be hard to walk through the thick tension of bottled emotions."

His counterpart gave her a patronizing look, "I have a hard time believing you'd leave a room with the two of us in it."

Steve felt his face heating up. To say he was becoming uncomfortable with this line of conversation was an understatement. And he thought the sexual undertones from his Tony were bad...

"You know me so well Baby." She cooed and leaved over to give him a kiss on the corner of his mouth. "But you're going to have to try harder than that to get me to stop." She replied, all trace of the husky tone gone.

Before he could open his mouth and make his embarrassment complete by asking how she could possibly make it worse, her tablet gave a pleasant two tone chime.

"Oh goody, I'm about to get yelled at." She muttered tapping the screen. "Yes my lovely angel?" She answered as a familiar face appeared on the hologram.

"Are you aware this is the third board meeting you've missed in two weeks?" It was Pepper. Ever the same, pristine, efficient, mad as a hornet Pepper Potts.

"I had stuff to do." The brunette answered with a pout. Something about that rang familiar too, but he couldn't quite place it. 

"You mean you had Avengers stuff to do." Pepper snapped. 

"There may have been an extra Captain America on the streets of New York this morning." The brunette nodded in agreement.

"Toni! That is what you have a team for!"

Tony?   

"They are a collective group that can handle their own once in a while without Iron Man when she has lingering CEO duties to attend to-"

Tony was Iron Man. _This_ was Tony? _Tony_?   

"-such as informing the board, in person, why this is a good direction for the company!"

Toni flipped a piece of hair over her shoulder, "I wrote them a very detailed letter explaining why these changes were taking place and outlined all the guaranteed benefit that would come of this. It's been three weeks and we're already up almost two dozen points because of what I've been able to do in the lab uninterrupted." Her sharp eyes cut to this world's Steve. "Mostly uninterrupted."

Blushing wasn't a possibility as long as his brain remained in the state of shock.

Tony was a girl!

And they were together.

Together as a _couple_.

This world's Tony and Steve. Iron Man and Captain America.

They were together! Romantically!

A small flair of jealousy started in his chest. He was witnessing something he longed for in his world. He was seeing what it would have been like if there was a chance for what he felt like they danced around daily.

The call ended abruptly as Pepper cited CEO duties and not having spare time to listen to Toni's excuses.

"That was rude." The female Toni huffed folding her arms under her ample chest and resting her elbows on the counter. 

"She does have a point." His counterpart pointed out, scooting the take out container closer to Toni's elbow.

"She does have a point." Toni mimicked in a mock deep voice, "But I had a valid counter that both of you seemed to keep forgetting. I already expressed my intentions, the board knew this was coming, they're just bitching because they can't make me be their little china doll."

Steve turned his attention to his food and tried not to stare with rapt fascination at how similar this Toni was to his Tony. The pout was exactly the same, a bit more effective with the mildly painted eye lids and lips, but the same.

Toni sighed at the food at her elbow before shifting her eyes to Steve who couldn't seem to look away. "Hi by the way. Food good?" She smiled easily. God she looked so much like his Tony it almost hurt.

He wanted to convey how appreciative he was of her thoughtfulness with the pasta because he really didn't like Thai food. How considerate it was of her to offer her home to him when they could have left him with Reed to wait out whatever had happened. But all that came out was- "You're a girl."

That had his counterpart looking at him with a confused pull of the eyebrow and Toni had the beginning of a smirk on her lips. "Thank you for noticing. Toni with an ‘i’."

Steve felt heat start to gather at the back of his neck, "You're Iron Man and you're female." His double seemed to accept that and turned back to his pasta but Toni was still looking at him with a gleam in her eye. 

"You thought I was a man." She smiled, knowing she was right.

Steve shrugged a shoulder and nodded once, "Well yeah."

"That means the Iron Man from your universe is a man," She waited half a moment for him to nod before continuing, "And you still want to screw his brains out."

"Toni!" His counterpart cried as the blush spread across his face.

The look on her face meant he didn't have to respond because she knew.

"In that case," she pulled the pasta towards her and speared a noodle, "EDWIN pull up some wedding pictures, and then some of the ceremony and engagement pictures for the heck of it."

"Wedding?" Steve choked out as the counter top inches above his food lit up as an interactive display.

She was a vision in her pristine white dress. The delicate looking sleeves over the curve of her shoulder as she looked back at the camera with a smile on her face. The next picture was her standing next to his counterpart, both facing the camera but looking down at the ring she held out to admire.

The peaceful happy smile of the reflection of himself in the picture didn't help at all to extinguish the burn of jealousy.

Another picture was of Steve carrying her bridal style while she was clearly under protest. The next few pictures were of them in full uniform, standing hand in hand at an altar. His cowl pulled back and her helmet in Pepper's hands behind her.

He heard her snort when he got to the venue pictures. "Those were taken before the wedding. Justine Hammer has always had a stick up her ass about my success. The fact I married the sexiest thing on two legs added to that fire. Hence her sending in highly unstable bots to destroy the wedding location the day before our wedding."

She leaned into her husband's side watching Steve flip thought images. "Getting married in the suit really should have been my first option. I mean do you the positioning of the shoulder flight stabilizers?" The grin that spread across her face made her eyes sparkle. "It was so sexy it's hard to believe they didn't censor that out in the media coverage." His counterpart rolled his eyes but the smile on his lips didn’t waver.

There was a short video at the end of the picture set. Steve tapped play without really thinking and watched the back of what looked like James Rhode's head as he did something to the back of the Iron Man suit. With a laugh he stepped away to revile he had tied a few cans on string to the mentioned flight stabilizers, there was a piece of paper taped to her back that read 'Just Married'.

She turned towards her husband who had his back to the camera so it caught the happy smile on her face. His counterpart nodded then Toni was taking his helmet from Pepper and sliding it in place before wrapping an arm around Steve's middle.

With a final wave from both of them they were off the ground and twelve feet in the air so quickly the camera had a hard time keeping up with them before they were zooming out of lens range.

When Steve looked back up to the duo sitting across from him they were looking at each other with unbridled affection, his double's arm around her waist pulling her closer. They looked so happy and in love Steve had to look away. It almost physically hurt to think this wasn't something he could have with his own Shellhead. Tony was a ladies man, always would be. No amount of hoping on his part would change that.

Never to admit it verbatim aloud, he had a sadist streak.

"Do you have any kids?"

Toni huffed and fixed him with a 'really, really, did you just ask that' look. "Thank you reporter we do not have any kids but we will revisit the idea in a few years." Her hand moved from the table to her husband's thigh, he really hoped it was the other man's thigh but he was too scared to check. "I'm plenty happy to have him all to myself right now. I would ask about your love life but that's apparently rude."

"It's not rude to ask but you were being vulgar and insensitive."

Oh great, even his counterpart had picked up on his feelings and he knew how oblivious he could be when these things were happening around him.

***

Tony

30 minutes after Stella had departed the elevator chimed, letting them know she had returned.

"Daddy!" A child's voice called across the open space.

Tony turned to watch a small dark haired child run into the room followed by Stella with arms full of groceries. His counterpart sat forward on his chair to gather the child into his arms in a hug, "How's my big man today?"

"m good." He replied giving his Dad another squeeze then settling into his lap.

"Daddy." He said with the upmost seriousness.

"Yes Isaac?"

"What would you do if you had a talking sponge?"

Tony turned the surprised laugh into a cough as he brought a hand up to cover his mouth. His counterpart flashed him a humorous look only to refocus on his son sitting in his lap trying to be as serious as he could.

"It depends."

"On what?" He demanded.

"What color is the sponge?"

Seeming to take the question very serious he brought his little hand up to his chin in a move he probably watched his father do a million times as he thought through something.

"It's a blue sponge."

His counterpart made a dramatic show of sitting back and leaning his forehead on his fingers as if in deep thought.

"If it were a _blue_ talking sponge," he started, pausing to drag out the show, "I would have it answer the phones so we could give Lisa at the front desk a few days off a week."

The little dark head bobbed in agreement. "It would have to talk a lot then huh?"

His counterpart ruffed up his hair, "Yes it would."

"Good. I think blue sponge would like that." He said with finality and finally relaxed on his Dad's lap, his little shoulders not looking so tense.

He finally looked around the room and noticed Tony. They sized each other up for a few silent, tense moments. He had the Stark family's dark hair, but his eyes were the same breath taking color as Steve's. Well as his mother's.

After as through of a visual evaluation a four year old could give him, he wiggled out of his father's lap and took the few steps to stand in front of Tony's chair.

They maintained eye contact as he held out his little hand in an offer to shake. Biting back how polite and frankly adorable the little man was, he took the small hand in his own and shook it.

"Hello. My name is Tony."

They held hands for a moment in stalemate "Isaac, it's polite to tell someone your name after they've told you theirs." His counterpart encouraged from his seat behind him. 

"I'm Isaac." He replied letting go of his hand.

"It's nice to meet you Isaac."

He flashed a smile full of baby teeth at Tony before turning and running into the kitchen where Stella was unpacking the groceries.

"Wanna help with the production that is lunch?" He turned to find his counterpart smiling after his family.

A small burn of envy started in Tony's chest.

Steve would probably love to have a mini him running around.

***

Lunch consisted of homemade sandwiches and carrots and celery courtesy of Stella at Isaac’s request.

Tony had watched as the three of them moved around the kitchen making enough sandwiches to feed a small army. Isaac stood on a chair and added tomatoes per Stella's specification. And Tony provided the plates for each completed sandwich.

They moved the plates to the dining room, Isaac demanding Tony sit next to him, while four more plates of sandwiches sat at the counter.

Issac kept the table entertained with his highly convincing explanation on how 10,000 bears would win against 1000 T-Rexes in a fight.

Half way through his perfectly made sandwich Tony starting feeling off and it wasn't just from the alcohol. Well, if he were honest with himself it might have been the alcohol _and_ the fact he hadn't eaten in a while.

Lunch was winding down leaving a few bites of his sandwich and a few scattered carrots when a teenage boy walked in and grabbed a plate of double stacked sandwiches.

His presence was a bit unnerving because he was far too young to be an Avenger and a bit too old to be another child of the Rogers-Stark camp. His shaggy bowl cut was swept to one side as to not fall in his eyes as the rest of his hair preformed the most serious chase of bed head Tony had ever seen. A small silver nose ring looped around the edge of his left nostril.

He muttered a half asleep 'afternoon' at the table without actually looking at anyone.

"Peety!" Isaac smiled and waved enthusiastically at him from his own seat.

"Hi Mr. Man." Was his reply as he seated himself across from Tony and started eating the first sandwich in large bites.

"For the sake of my imparted leadership skills," Stella started as she leaned her elbows on the table, her entire focus on the sleepy teen, "please tell me you're just tired from an extensive training session. Not that you're just now getting up."

"I thought only Aunt May was allowed to lecture me on sleeping in?” He asked finishing off the first sandwich. 

“Normally she is, but until her and Edwin get back from their honeymoon it’s my job.” Stella answered not letting her focus waver.

The teen sighed, “Is researching topics for midterms an acceptable ego stroking answer?"

"Are you still struggling with that History paper?" The blue eyed Tony asked trying, and failing to sneak some of his vegetables onto his wife’s plate.

The teen groaned and dropped his head to be cradled in his hand, "Yes! I despise hypothetical comparison essays. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to make it _fifteen pages_. Why can't we make the super villains write this? It's their fault I miss so much class time."

His counterpart chuckled, "You could do a comparison of outcomes if Captain America had been born a man."

The teen's head shot up and Stella started coughing. "Excuse me?" She squeaked.

"I’m not sure if it would fill fifteen pages, but the next three days you'll have an expert reference as he's kind of stuck here."

The first time since sitting down, the teen looked at Tony. He had impossibly large brown eyes.

"For the record I am too tired to properly freak out, but what is going on here?"   

"Peter, this is Tony Stark. He is Iron Man in his universe. Tony, this is Peter Parker, Spider-Man. What is this about Captain America being a _man_ in your world?"

Tony’s mind was stuck at ‘this is Spider-Man’, blinked at the kid then his brow was pulling together in confusion. "How old are you?"

"Oh God! It's like that nightmare where everyone is disappointed in me because I run around in red and black spandex and can't shave yet! Oh wait-that's happening right now!" This was Spider-Man. And there was a doubt in Tony's mind the Spider-Man they'd been trying to recruit for the past few months was just as young if not younger then the teen sitting in front of him.

He huffed out a breath that rustled his hair. "I'm 16 and if you'd like to ask for a resume I'm going to refer you to my employers." He turned to look at Stella, "Employer, please tell me he is the only one coming over this time. I can't handle another episode of two Johnny Storms."

Stella laughed, a light sound that eased the tension from Tony's shoulders. His counterpart answered for her, "Reed said he only anticipated Iron Man. There is a Captain America in another dimension that was supposed to be here but we'll see where they are with that in three days."

The conversation had started to dim out about the time Peter started talking about resumes. 16 was incredibly young. Much too young to be fighting villains let alone super villains, but he doubted there were few people who know how much of a risk it was more than Captain America and Iron Man. And those two seemed like they encouraged him.

"Tony." Stella said through the haze.

He turned towards her having to open his eyes he hadn't realized he'd closed, only for his vision to swim to two blondes. Her hand on his arm cleared the fog away a little. "Tony, when was the last time you had sleep?"

He closed his eyes for a moment, probably longer than necessary because she was nudging him again. "Three." He muttered fighting to reopen his eyes, oh boy he was dropping fast. Stomach full of sandwich and healthy vegetables after three days of no sleep it was no surprise he was almost asleep upright.

"Up, come on." She urged with a hand under his arm.

"What's going on with him?" Peter asked through a tunnel.

"Today is day three of him not getting sleep. He's off to the guest room."

Good, at least someone was here to speak Tony.

Stella's laugh made goose bumps prick along his arms. "I'm very fluent in Tony speak yes." They were moving, but Tony was pretty sure his feet weren't cooperating like they should have been. "Almost there." She assured him.

He was sat on a soft mattress that dipped only slightly under his weight, then his shoes were being taken off.

God, is this what it would have been like if Steve had been born a woman? The risk of ruining their friendship would be gone because they would have fit together like two puzzle pieces. Like this Tony and Stella did.

He felt the world shift then his face was pressed against cool soft pillows.

Wouldn't that be something, to not have to worry about getting socked across the jaw for telling the guy you loved him and that you wanted more than the friendship you shared.

"Oh Tony." He heard a distant voice say.

They sounded so sad, and the sudden urge to comfort them was smothered by his bodies' need to sleep.

***

Steve

"And Green Bean makes his first appearance mid-afternoon."

Bruce nodded to the additional super soldier in the kitchen and offered him a small smile, "This is the second time the kitchen has seen me today Toni. Hello, I'm Bruce Banner."

Steve smiled and bobbed his head once, "Hello Bruce. We have a Bruce Banner in my world too."

Bruce looked mildly curious, "Do we share the same condition?"

"If you mean presented a target and then smashing until it's been handled, then yes. Same condition."

Bruce ducked his head, but had a small smile on his lips. "I was kind of hoping to find a world where there isn't a Hulk and just a Bruce."

"That's definitely not our world. Hulk is a member of the Avengers, it's been a few months since we've seen Bruce."

Steve shifted uncomfortably as he noticed everyone was gaping at him. "The Hulk wanders around freely?" Bruce asked quietly. 

"Yes. He eats more food than we can keep stocked sometimes. And fights with Clint a lot, but he's a valued member of our team."

Bruce pulled some things from the fridge. "He fights with Clint? Hawkeye Clint?"

"Yes. I can't tell these days who starts it so we let them sort it out. They argue a lot."

"He's pulling pigtails." Toni muttered not looking away from her screen. "Wait, your Hulk can speak?"

Steve felt taken aback. "He refers to himself in the third person, and the sentences are rather short and to the point, but he'll speak his mind more often than not."

"Our Hulk has shown signs of understanding but his vocabulary is 100 words at best."

"I know he wasn't always capable of talking that way. He underwent voluntary hypnosis with SHIELD's help to bring out higher brain function. Somehow it back fired and he switched bodies with our Spider-Man for a few hours. The incident report wasn't clear on what actually happened but when they were switched back Hulk was able to communicate more effectively. Hulk and Bruce have an understanding that Hulk gets to be the dominant one and Bruce only comes out once or twice a month. We usually send Clint as a chaperone for those mini vacations."

Bruce had taken down a pan from the overhead rack and tossed some vegetables into the hot warming pan.

The look in his eye made it seem like he didn't quite believe him.

"I'd be ok if the old man let us go on mini vacations." Clint announced as he walked into the room.

"You figure out how to get the Hulk to speak in sentences that consist of more than 5 syllables and we'll talk." Was his counterpart's reply. 

"Deal." Clint wrapped his arms around Bruce's waist and nuzzled his shoulder whispering something in Bruce's ear that made his face flame red.

Steve felt his own face heat up. That was kind of graphic.

The pan in front of Bruce had started to sizzle and he added a few eggs. "What was Reed trying to accomplish by bringing you to this world?"

"He said another Reed caused it and he was informed I was here by that Reed."

"That does sound like Reed. Do you think this has anything to do with how strange he's been lately?"

"I wouldn't rule it out." His counterpart replied.

"Would anyone else like a spinach omelet?"  Bruce offered as the conversations paused. Toni made a face and shook her head, returning her attention to the computer in front of her. 

"No thank you." He heard in stereo.

Bruce laughed and Toni rolled her eyes with a muttered "Boy scouts."

Clint was practically drapes over Bruce's back as the shorter man expertly flipped the omelet. Toni used the surface of the counter to type out a quick message and slid it to her husband. His head shot up to look at her and they had a silent war with his counterpart winning but Toni sat back quietly, looking smug. Steve was too busy trying to not opening stare at how touchy Clint and Bruce were, he failed to notice the silent exchange.

Bruce flipped the omelet a final time and slipped it onto a plate. He pushed the plate towards an open bar stool and started mixing another omelet. Clint gave him another squeeze then left him in favor of the plate of food. "Why are there two old men in the kitchen today?" He asked grabbing a fork.

"Reed Richards called-" 

"Stop. Don't care. Nice to meet you Cap."

Steve smiled at the familiarity, "You too Clint."

***

Tony

“I want him to be happy.” Stella sighed as she leaned against her husband. His arm around her shoulder and Isaac used her thigh as a pillow for his nap.

“What makes you think he’s not happy?”

“I told you want he said as he was getting into bed.”

“You did.”

“He wants to have a relationship with his Captain America. He deserves to be happy with the me in his world.”

Tony sighed. She was trying to solve the world’s problems again. “How do you think you’ll help him with that? You don’t even know what his Captain America is like.”

“No, but I know how you are. I know how we are and I want him to have that. You deserve to have that. In every universe.”

Tony closed his eyes at the rush of anguish at the thought of Stella not being in his life.

The way her eyes would light up when he would present her with an upgrade to her gear. How perfect she looked with the morning sun falling across her face as she slept curled up to his side. How she always knew how to handle any situation perfectly. Of her smiling face when she woke him up for a particularly early meeting.

“Maybe he needs that.” Tony agreed dropping a kiss to the top of his wife’s head.

***

Steve

Thor came in laughing about 10 minutes after Clint with a petit brunette just behind him.

Steve blinked at Thor wearing dark wash jeans and a tee shirt. He had never seen the man in anything other than his battle armor.

"Ah, friends! I see the welcome of the good Captain was a success. Hello Stephen 109." Steve smiled but felt his brows pulling together, "109?"

"It's the number of the universe you're from. Thor is really good at keeping the universes and the people that cross over from them correct. It's a pretty straight forward name and number system."

"For you may not be like our Captain and I do not wish to offend if we meet at a future date." Steve nodded in understanding; it was his life that numbering the people who came through from different worlds was even something people around him had to consider.

"I won’t worry about offending me too much. So far we're pretty similar. Everything about the Steve Rogers past here seems to be the same as mine. The team is slightly different." He gave the brunette a small smile, "Sorry, we haven’t meet."

She offered her hand with a smile. "Jan Van Dyne. Fashion designer and superhero. The Wasp." She talked almost as fast as his Tony.

And her name was familiar, "Janet Van Dyne?"

Her eyes lit up, "Why yes. I'm glad to hear I'm as well known in your world as here. You might have seen some of my work on the red carpet. I'm practically a household name. It only helped my lines after becoming a superhero. The publicity is amazing." She beamed.

"The Tony from my world-"

"It's ok to call him 'My Tony'." Toni chimed in.

Steve felt heat rising to his face, "-buys most of his wardrobe from the Janet Van Dyne lines. It's a pleasure to meet you Jan."

She smiled and motioned to where Bruce and Clint were sitting, "Who else isn't on your team?" 

Steve followed her gesture, "Who else do you have?"

"You're looking at 'em." Toni answered, "Group of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Who can't remember to tell EDWIN to put milk on the grocery list when we're out."

"EDWIN? That is your AI correct?” Steve asked unable to break the habit of glancing up as he mentioned the disembodied being. "Yep. EDWIN, Experiment Done With Ideological Notions. A side project I completed over a bet with Rhodey. He refuses to acknowledge he is the paternal father."

Steve caught the look his counterpart shot his wife. It seemed trying to get Toni to not be, well Toni, was a losing battle that he couldn't see he'd already lost. Steve himself had resigned a long time ago to just let Tony do his thing and try to control his own blushing reaction. Not something he wanted to think about in too great of detail sitting in front of a bunch of virtual strangers.

"We have a youngster Sam Wilson, goes by Falcon on our team and Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow."

Clint laughed around the glass of water he was drinking. "Ha! Natasha a member of this team? If we weren't in the public eye so much maybe, but she's always been more about doing the whole lone gun slinger act."

Steve nodded, "We had that conversation when she first joined. It was one of her terms. I'm more than happy to not be the headlines, the fame isn't want I signed up for."

He felt that might have crossed the line with that comment as the room grew quiet. Jan seemed pretty content being in the limelight. His counterpart's fist had clenched and a muscle along his jaw jumped. Definitely sensitive topic.

"If those fucking shape shifters hadn't happened, and if the hot heads up on The Hill hadn't demanded a registration we probably wouldn't be in the headlines every week." Toni growled from next to her husband. Bruce had put a hand on Clint's shoulder, the blond man turned towards Bruce, his posture relaxing as they made eye contact.

"I would much rather prefer our actions to be publically scrutinized than by another SHIELD mole." Thor said bring the room's attention to himself. "The thought of that Norman Osborn once again lording his ill-gotten power over us makes me furious."

This apparently had deeper roots than he anticipated. Wait, was Osborn- ?  

"What does Norman Osborn have to do with SHIELD? Are you telling me Norman Osborn is somehow influencing SHIELD?"

“The Director of SHIELD actually.” Jan said, anger clear in her tone.

“Director?!”

"That man acquired the position through deceit at a time when we were unable to stop his advances." Thor rumbled, "Director Fury, who has never held favor with me, had gone into hiding before we were aware the shape shifters were among us. By then Clint and Jan had already been replaced with us none the wiser.  

"The invasion didn't dampen the villains’ spirits as the good Captain had an incident with the Red Skull long before the shape shifters infiltrated our ranks. Steven went missing and his disappearance drove Toni mad with grief as she searched for him. We had no choice but to suspend Toni from battle. Left to her own devices she became the Director of SHIELD."

Thor paused as the look on Toni's face promised him pain anyway she could manage it.

"It’s the biggest formal spy outfit in the world, occasionally hacking in to look for clues as to where Steve had gone was not enough. I needed to be the first to know." 

Steve couldn't keep the shocked look off his face. "They let a civilian become the Director of SHIELD?"

"Norman is a civilian." She defended. "And Thor just said he did that through a flashy song and dance. He's been known to have a history of evil streaks-"

“Although a valid requirement for running SHIELD,” her voice dipped in sarcasm, “It took a little schmoozing with my own not so close friends at the capital. Those politician types will do almost anything if there is enough campaign money in it for them.”   

Steve saw red for half a moment. He knew that money talked, it was the case back in his time but people back then at least _pretended_ to have the decency to do the right thing. The absolute sway that money had over this time would always frustrate him.

But really he had to right to be mad at this Toni. If it were his Tony you bet he would have words for him, in length. But here, seeing how the couple acted, he imagined that argument was thoroughly hashed out long ago.

"- about how evil Osborn is,” It seemed Toni did wait for his thoughts to come back to the conversation “I found Steve right before the full invasion. Left SHIELD to go get him, and was gone for a few day shy of a month. Long enough for Osborn to weasel his way into my position, which I was kicked out of, thank _you_ Maria Hill. We came back in time for the first ships to touch down.” She gave a small smile, “Super Soldier sneak. Works every time."

Thor let out a bark of laughter, "After we defeated the invaders the maiden of iron couldn't wait for the good Captain to ask for her hand." 

Toni grinned, "When I finally found him I demanded that he marry me so he can't disappear like that again. Everyone knows Captain America can't break a promise, let alone a vow."

His counterpart shook his head but smiled at her fondly as he took her hand.

"The shape shifters didn't know he was alive either so they didn’t have a counter him."

"How did you know you hadn't found a shape shifter?" Steve asked discreetly eyeing his counterpart.

Toni gave him the same look as when he'd asked about them having children. Tony's 'are you shitting me' was pretty familiar recognizable. "I took every body fluid you can think from this man and a few hairs to make sure he wasn't a shape shifter. Every test we gave him, it all came back negative. He is the real deal."

Steve’s head dipped in understanding, not doubting _that_ search had been just shy of unnecessarily thorough.

Ever diligent he had to wonder with Osborn in such a position of power what did that mean for those he perceived as enemies? "What does Norman Osborn being the Director of SHIELD mean for Spider-Man?"

"That's who we were looking for this morning when we found you." His counterpart explained, "We know that Norman Osborn has it out for Spider-Man but he's refusing our help. He's gone so far as to avoid us entirely. We haven't seen him in weeks, but we've found halted robberies and other good deeds with webbing at the scene."

"Maria Hill is keeping it together on the SHIELD front. She's the one that's prevented an outright warrant on Spider-Man because he helped us out in a big way a few years ago. He’s a clever little arachnid I’ll give him that."

Sensing the need for a lighter topic his counterpart brought the conversation back to his team. "You'd mentioned Sam is an Avenger?"

Steve nodded, "He's a good kid. His love of technology rival's Tony's sometimes and the team has benefited from that. We're giving him the experience he needs but I think he would have figured it out without our help."

"Kid?"

"Well, he's no older than 25 that's for sure."

"Because you have so much room to talk." Clint chimed in. 

"It's different now than it was then." His counterpart replied. 

"Right, because of all the snow and the hills had to trudge." Toni replied with an eye-roll. 

"The centuries have made the valleys between locations much more manageable." Thor nodded in agreement as he leaned against the counter. A bark of laughter escaped Steve before he could rein it in. _Thor_  intentionally made a joke.

His counterpart continued on as if they weren't openly mocking him. "Sam is Falcon in this world also, but I think ours is older. He is a very good friend of mine and his skills have been invaluable over the years. We run around from time to time when there is work to be done that doesn't fall under Avenger's business."  

"It is the strongest bromance I've ever witnessed that so far hasn't ended in a make out session." Jan chirped from her perch on the counter.

"And it's going to continue that way if you keep bringing it up Jan. Thanks." Toni drawled, collapsing the windows in front of her. She closed the entirety of the system at the counter, her hand holding down where the screen was projecting from, while holding eye contact with Jan.

"Cabernet sauvignon? Living room?" Jan hopped off the counter and opened a cabinet, "Yes."

Thor moved away from the cupboards and Clint and Bruce moved away from the counter, Clint's hand on the small of Bruce's back. Steve watched the team move nearly silently at the crypt code and rearrange themselves in the nearby room. He caught the eye of his counterpart who smiled sheepishly and stood, "We're headed to the living room. Only when we have company does Toni bring out wine. We might be in for the long haul. Do you want something to drink before you're put on the chopping block?"

Toni playfully slapped his arm, "Stop trying to warn him.” She hissed “And it's not a chopping block. I'm just curious as to what a male me is doing with a male you in another world."

"It's about time we had a dick interested Captain America." Clint called over his should as he directed Bruce into the sitting room. 

"It's not like that!" Steve protested, color flooding his cheeks.

Toni scoffed as she moved past him with a quiet, "We have one now." 

***

Tony

When he woke hours later he felt the beginning of a headache forming in the front of his brain. Drugs. He needed pain drugs now. And coffee. The hallway was dimly lit, the sun having gone down a few hours ago. The light in the kitchen was on, flooding the living room.

"Mhh, do tell." He heard Stella purr. That alone was enough to set him on high alert, every muscle in his body tensing at once.

"Well," He heard his own voice reply, "Isaac has been in bed for an hour. The team gave us the night off. Our guest is in his room for the night. I have you all to myself." 

The feminine giggle was swept away by an audible moan. "You fight dirty Shellhead." Came her husky reply. 

The sound of lips breaking suction followed by, "You wouldn't have it any other way Winghead."

"Guest present!" He called then strolled into the room.

Stella yelped and ducked her head behind the back of the couch pressing her reddening face into her husband's shoulder. "God damnit Tony!" His counterpart hissed. The couch they were taking up was facing away from the kitchen, the backrest so high he couldn’t even see the man's hair.

"It's not my fault you decided to get hands in the commons room."

"This isn't the commons room, it's our family floor." Came the clipped response. That stopped Tony short. As strange as it was, the layout of the tower was the same as his tower back home. This was the floor between his suite and Steve's. As he thought about it really the only people to ever go there were Pepper, Rhodey, Steve, more recently Sam, and himself. Which was odd because that was the extent of their families as the trust was restored within their Avenger family.

Stella's voice broke him from his musings, "Was there something we could help you find?"

Tony looked back towards them. Stella's face was scarlet from her blush and still straddling her husband, but meeting his gaze silently daring him to say anything. It was a move Steve pulled on him from to time. Not the straddling, but steadfast meeting his gaze when he'd been caught red handed. Questioning Jarvis as to what Tony did when he wasn't working had been one of those times. Watching a TMZ documentary on Tony had been another time. Apparently this Captain America's sense of being caught extended to intimate moments with her husband in the living room.

"No. Just up here to get something to drink. I'll leave you kids to it." The first cupboard he found had Advil so he quickly downed four in a dry swallow and filled a glass of lukewarm coffee before retreating back to his guest room.

"Fair warning, we might still be out here if you decide you want actual food later." Followed him down the hall.

***

Steve

The day had passed quickly as Steve had to field very question the team came up with. He tried to keep the questions about his past as vague as possible because he wasn't sure how much the team already knew about their own Steve Rogers. So far it seemed they were pretty similar. Turns out there was one more Avenger that he had yet to meet but Jan was the only one calling him that.

Dr. Hank Pym. His own Tony often tried to bring Steve up to speed on the theoretical works in modern science but there were still some things Steve would only believe with his own eyes. The Pym Partials being one of them. It was all just theory so far in his world but any mention of it in articles would get Tony all excited and Steve would willingly sit through Tony's own theory of how it all worked. But in this world the Pym Partials weren't just theory, Hank and Jan had been using them for almost two years now. Hank wasn't living in the tower anymore, citing that he wasn't cut out for all the fighting. Jan had high hopes that he could come back, but the rest of the team had remained suspiciously silent.

The big surprise had come when Thor mentioned his brother in an almost endearing fashion. Toni had griped about him not abiding by the mansion rules and using magic. To which Thor promised he would speak with Loki about it but the whole conversation seemed a bit rehearsed, like this was an old argument. Apparently in this world the demi-gods were raised as brothers but it was known Loki was the son of Laufey. Odin had taken him hoping to unite the two kingdoms through Loki. His plan had been to create a marriage union between Loki and Thor, bringing about peace. So far the union hadn’t happened as the Frost Giants abided by the original treaty and remained on Jotunheim. Loki visited Thor often, bringing mischief with him whenever he came.

The night started winding down as Clint started to nod off on Bruce's shoulder. Turns out Clint had a prodigy and today was his first day back after a week of running around with her. Thor announced he would retire to his room and Bruce started nudging Clint towards the doorway. Toni and Jan, mostly Jan, gathered up their wine glasses and disappeared into the kitchen.

His counterpart stood and stretched, yawning as he did so. Steve had to bite back a yawn of his own. It was exhausting to be so talkative.

"I need to get her to sleep." His counterpart said gathering up the rest of the glasses. "Day four of not seeing the back of her eyelids and she's going to crash anytime."  

"Day four?" Steve asked, feeling a rising concern of his own.  

"We've been busy trying to talk to Spider-Man at night, and Toni playing R&D catch up with her company during the day I haven't had a chance to force her to get some sleep."

"Because you're her husband." Steve found himself saying.

His counterpart paused in picking up the mess his team had left to give him a measuring look. "Partly. Being her husband means I can tell her to get some sleep and she's more likely to listen to me, but even before we were married I was telling her when it was time to put down the soldering iron. She just doesn't have a very good sense of self-preservation. And I loved her long before we were married so I felt that I needed to see to her overall wellbeing even if she didn't want me to."

Steve cast his gaze to the side, lost in thought. He had tried to get one of the others to make sure Tony was taking care of himself so it wouldn't seem like Steve was trying to smother him but they all figured he was a grown man he could take care of himself. Steve sighed. No, no he really couldn't.

"Would you," Steve looked over to his double who was gesturing to the other glasses he had gathered but couldn't pick up. "Sure."

Together they walked into the kitchen, his counterpart just a step behind him. Toni was alone in the kitchen, standing at the island, a few diagnostics reports open.

She turned as they came in motioning to the displays. "Baby, did the takeoff feel-oh god I really have corrupted Captain America." She leaned back against the counter for support, "Pepper is going to kill me. I owe Rhodey a $100. And Clint $200. Damn." She stalked towards them. "Hold still."  

Steve felt his muscles tense, anticipating a fight he knew wasn't coming. "EDWIN, do full body scans on the God Bless America twins here. I have never wanted to be so wrong in my life."  

"Scan complete, what would you like extrapolated from the results?"

"I want a summary of how similar these two really are. Tell me there is a sever difference in their cellular structure, something, _anything_." Toni was just short of panting, the gleam in here eye the same manic look his Tony got when he was close to finishing a project. "Results indicate the Captains are identical. Their DNA is more closely related then that of identical twins."

“Fuck!" She swore loudly as she threw her hands up. 

"Toni! Mother and Country, what is wrong?" His counterpart used a tone he only took when he was in the field. Or when Tony was being particularly stubborn about neglecting his personal health.

"I knew this would happen! I didn't want to believe it because how can one person change another person so completely? Rhodey knew this would happen. Hell _Clint_ knew this would happen! What have I done?" She choked over the last bit, trying to get her breathing under control. She kept running her hands through her hair, pulling at the strands in what looked almost painful.

Steve felt more than helpless watching her talk herself into a frenzy. His counterpart set the glasses on the floor and slowly walked towards her. His hands out as if he was trying to not spook a feral creature. "Toni, come on. Let's go to bed."  

"Steve! Baby, how can you not see how bad this is?" She shouted side stepping away from him. "You're Captain America for crying out loud! You're always supposed to be wholesome and perfect and I'm ruining you! I told you we shouldn't do this! That you'd regret it and look what's happening!"

Steve stared dumbfounded in the middle of the kitchen, two glasses in each hand, watching this so independently driven person fall apart. He'd watched his own Tony have an episode like this once but-

"Toni! I love you!" His counterpart roared, a flash of fear crossed her face before settling into surprise. Steve was about ready to interject but his counterpart wasn't done. "I love you," he continued in a quieter voice now that he had her attention, but continued with the authoritative tone. "and you aren't doing anything to corrupt me. Not even a little."

Her big expressive brown eyes were full of tears and this time when he moved towards she didn't push him away. As his arms came around her, she all but collapsed into his arms in sobs. Steve could feel his heart breaking as she repeated over and over again how sorry she was. He wasn't even sure she knew what she was apologizing for.

His counterpart gathered her up in his arms and turned for the door muttering a soft, "I'll be back after a while." Steve nodded to him, not meaning to catch how Toni curled into his counterpart's neck and shook with emotion.

Steve numbly set the dishes on the counter as he sat in an unoccupied stool, staring at the counter's glossy surface, not really seeing it. He had seen his Tony at the same state once. It was right after he had broken up with Pepper for the last time. Clint's comment at how Pepper put up with a lot of his shit had him smiling the most forced look Steve had ever seen before he all but ran from the room.  Steve had followed him to the lab without thinking and watched silently as Tony paced. Spewing all kinds of absurd thing about how if patient, perfect, _Pepper_ couldn't put up with him how could he expect _anyone_ else to.

With each depreciate word that fell from his mouth Steve could only gape at what was the equivalent to Tony bearing his broken battered soul. In the fit he had taken a bottle of bourbon Steve knew to have cost no less than a thousand dollars and threw it across the garage, the shatter of the glass lost in his heart wrenching scream. He dropped to the ground and pulled his knees to his chest and buried his face in his crossed arms. Steve knew that Tony tended to connect his mouth to his inner monologue around day three of no sleep.

This is what day four looked like.

Steve realized that night as he put an exhausted, delusional, crying Tony into the couch in his lab that Tony was more damaged than any of them originally thought. This man has been living with the thought he was letting people down with everything he did for who knows how long. He knew that night he would do everything he could to let Tony know that everything he did was appreciated and that he was nothing like what had fallen from his lips that night.

But according to this Toni, before she gave up being coherent, she thought she didn't deserve Steve. That she knew she would corrupt him somehow but by being around him. If that's what his Tony thought as well then they were in for a long talk.

Even if nothing came out of it, it would at least strengthen their friendship.

***

Sometime later his counterpart walked in, a wet spot on his shoulder where Toni's head had been cradled. He pulled a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water. "Sorry about that." He all but whispered turning to face Steve.

"It's ok. Our Tony’s are more similar than you'd think, despite the gender."

His counterpart sighed and leaned a hip against the counter. He regarded Steve with a tired look before looking out the window to the dimly lit garden.

"She thinks she's corrupted me. Some malarkey about how she can't do anything right. That everything good she does have she ends up ruining. It makes me wish I had punched Howard in the face when I had the chance." Steve nodded in agreement but he knew the self-worth didn't stem from Howard's neglect alone. "She wouldn't remember this happened. She was half gone before Jan started gathering glasses."

His double sighed again then leaned on the counter to stare at Steve. Steve meet his gaze unflinching. It was a bit unnerving staring into a living mirror.

"Why do we always fall in love with the crazy ones?" He joked.

"Bucky wasn't crazy." Steve replied immediately.

A flash of shock touched the mirrored features before it smoothed out into an easy smile. "Buck is in a league all his own."

"Does your Toni not know you had an "illegal" affair with a man almost a century ago?"

His counterpart smiled, "Oh she knows I did, but she doesn't know with who. I don't think Natasha would care but I'm not willing to bet on it."

Steve's eye brows drew together in confusion. Natasha? "Why would the Black Widow care about a man that died decades ago?"

It was his counterpart's turn to look confused. "Have you heard of the Winter Soldier in your world?"

It sounded familiar. "I believe he's on SHIELD's wanted list. You're trying to tell me they're connected somehow?"

His counterpart bobbed his head once, "You'll see. Have you found the cube yet?"

"The one Red Skull had?"

"Buck was my biggest regret." He trailed off and they sat in an almost awkward silence. Everything about this situation was getting weird. Being here was almost like comparing notes on a book they were reading but comprehended completely different parts. 

"Do you have a drawing pad I can tear some pages out so I’ll be able to sleep tonight?”

He counterpart smiled, “That is one of the things Toni makes sure is never in short supply.”

*** Day 2

Tony

Too afraid to brave the living room where the living example of the happiness he'd never be allowed was currently soiling the couch, Tony spent the night looked into his counterpart's advances with the brain mapping. He was impressed with the work done for amputees. The mapping motor functions allowed high tech prosthetics to be custom built to the patient. It wasn't just mapped for the ability to move the limb, it was attached to the nerve system. They would be able to _feel_ with the prosthetic. It was in the clinical trial phase but looked very promising. There was no way Tony would be able to apply this level of detail to anything he brought home with him but it did start him thinking about how he could do something of a smaller scale in his armor interface.

That had led to a night of brainstorming and a rewrite of most of the armor interface from memory. In the back of his mind he kept expecting Steve to wander in and occupy the same space. Either try to engage him with an attempt to put food into him, or pull up a nearby chair and do his own thing by drawing or poking at a Stark pad. He shook his head. It was stupid to be missing the man when they'd only been separated for just over 24 hours.

It occurred to him about 7am as he worked on the armor upgrade that getting this change back to his world was going to be a bitch. At 9am his stomach deciding it was time to announce its desire for another meal. At 10am he decided he should be an approximation of a good house guest and started down the hallway.

He passed a tall canvas of a crumbling building. Something about it made him pause, always an eye for art, he stared at the painting. Rich colors captured the sky at sun set in deep purples and pink reds. The focus of the painting was a half demolished house, the sharp angles of the roof and supporting wall abruptly stopped giving way to empty space as most of the structure lay on the ground. The destroyed building was in the fore ground and behind it stood less emphasized examples of perfect houses. They too had the bold lines drawn with the intent to look as if they'd never fall. The main building didn't convey an overall sense of hopelessness but he felt that was a minor message somewhere in there.  

"Ah, sun set on a recently liberated Vienna." His counterpart stood next to him staring at the picture.  

"I don't recognize the artist." Tony admitted after failing to find a signature.  

"He put his name next to that bush there," a green shrub, partly crushed by the falling house, "as close as he could get to the most war ravaged object in each painting. Like he has a secret ambition or something."  

The initials were a precise A.H. in a pale green almost mistook for branches. "I'm not familiar with who A. H. stands for."

"That's the German painter, Adolf Hitler. He painted mostly Classic Beauty. He's got a couple hundred paintings similar to this one. He was big on promoting reconstruction after the war."

Tony felt his mouth open and knew he was gaping like a fish, but couldn't close it.

" _Adolf Hitler_? As in _the_ Adolf Hitler? Why on fucking Earth would you display a painting of a man who started World War II and was responsible for more than 82 million people's deaths?" He knew he was yelling, but the man had an evil dictator's painting hanging in the hallway on the way to his kid's room! How did he not see how fucked up that was?

The rising volume of his questioning brought Stella down the hall. "Why are you yelling?" She asked with a hand on her hip.

"Hitler!" He yelled gesturing to the painting, disgust clear in his tone.

"A 1926, war ravaged Vienna. Pepper talked Tony to the middle ground between a private island and ten dozen roses for our fifth date." She smiled and leaned in to give her husband a peck on the lips who then brought a hand to her back in reciprocation of the open display of affection.

Tony was still gaping like a fish.

"You mentioned World War II. How many world wars have you had in your world?"

Reeling his emotions back he took a deep breath. "We've had two world wars and a couple alien invasions."

Stella made a noise in the back of her throat, a few pitches higher than when his Steve would do it. It was the sound he made when he learned something he found particularly interesting.

“I guess our world is a little different, I think we have something that covers this if you want to learn a little more?”

***

They returned to the living room to who looked like the X-Men's Wolverine sitting in the chair with a beer and little Isaac putting together a large picture puzzle at the coffee table. "We’re going to watch a documentary on a 1900s painter." Was Stella’s greeting to him.  

He didn't make a move to leave. "Why?"

"Because the Hitler from my world killed 80 million people and in this world he is a well-known classical painter." Tony answered clipped.

Logan took a pull of his beer. "Could stand to learn about a dead painter."

 

Turns out, in this world there was no World War II. The First World War was started due to an assassination, but the assassination didn’t come until 1916 and the war escalated from there to continue for until 1926. The war grew so large all the nations involved had grown the world's scientific community past what had been accomplished in WWII. It actually explained how the detailed brain mapping could be accomplished in an extremely roundabout way. 

In 1916 the Central Powers had taken over most of Europe, able to launch a successful offensive on Paris and able to defend against all invading sides of Germany to Austro-Hungry. They even managed to push back the might of the USSR. But the leaders of the Central Powers had grown frustrated at the failed attempts of cutting supply lines from North America to Britain, so in 1919 they attacked three of the largest US ports simultaneously, effectively minimizing the help the US could provide to the Allies. The American death toll that day had been staggering. This act exhibited the German Empire's superior status in the Naval Arms race as they had crossed the ocean divide undetected until it was too late. With their major supply line cut the Allies slowly started to lose ground. They were able to hold together long enough for Project Rebirth to be perfected. Two years of fighting off the never ending wave of German soldiers Project Rebirth was complete and Captain America was sent in. 

 

The documentary brushed over the 2 years with a broad stroke, not elaborating as to why the project took so long to complete or really any detail of the war. It was at the fore front of Tony’s mind to ask until the first picture of Stella from back then had him blinking hard to make sure he wasn’t projecting. She was wearing a dress. They took a simple design of a dress, made it look like the flag, and she wore it.  

“You fought The Great War in a dress.”

“Won The Great War in a dress.” She corrected. “It was much shorter when I did the USO tour, but they insisted I didn’t need pants.” She scoffed at the memory. "Tony was the first to suggest the uniform include pants."

"Little kids still wear the dress for Halloween and the 4th of July." A petite brunette perched on the arm of Wolverine's chair helpfully chirped. Tony had watched her come into the room sometime around the retelling of the Naval Arms race and camp on the arm of Wolverine's chair ignoring his huff at having to switch hands that was holding his beer. This one looked to be about the same age as Peter, maybe a touch older but still a child herself.

"And true to the uniform they only offer it as a dress." Tony pointed out.

"You would know wouldn't you dear?" Stella purred. Tony refrained from doing a double take every time she did something openly affectionate towards her husband. It was just so unnerving to see so much of his Steve in her actions then have her do or say something that indicated how sickeningly happy they were together.

His counterpart gave her a devious smile, "I have the legs for a skirt and it doesn't hurt they look good in high heels."

Wolverine rolled his eyes and hit play on the documentary and the teenager giggled.

Neither of them really paying any attention to the hungry look that twinkled in Stella's eye.

***

Once they released Stella on Europe her team was confronted by another super solider, a sadly familiar face. The Red Skull. It turned out the Red Skull had been behind it all, heading the group called the Black Hand publically and Hyrda behind the scenes. The assassination, the strategic defensive lines pushing back the USSR, the hostile takeover of Paris, the Harbor Attack. All devised by the Red Skull.

It had taken Stella three years to hunt down the Red Skull and dismantle all of his bases. Everywhere the Allies were struggling to hold the line they would send in Captain America when she was between missions. She had Steve's expert tactical mind, and was just shy of ruthless in battle. Where ever they sent her in the battle front was moved. Sometimes by 50 miles, other times as far as 100 miles. By 1925 she had almost won the war single handedly until a run in with the Red Skull had ended with her falling into the freezing water and staying there for 90 years.

Among the chaos of war Hitler had defected to Italy and became the apprentice to the popular classic beauty painter Ettore Tito's. Hitler had become a well-known painter in his lifetime. The popularity of his paintings sky rocketed after he had been killed in a conflict to better living conditions. 

***

Stella was prepared to launch into a related art lecture on the style of that time when Tony's stomach protesting the lack of food again. Loudly.

"There is some leftover macaroni and cheese from Isaac's lunch." The teenager offered with a smile. 

"Thank you for fixing that for him Jan." His counterpart said as he walked towards the kitchen.

"I don't think I've ever had macaroni and cheese." Tony thought aloud.

"It's really good, especially when Jan makes it with the little slices of hot dog." Tony smiled and refrained from laughing at how happy Stella sounded as she followed her husband out of the room.

"Hey." Wolverine grunted, stopping Tony from following everyone out of the room. 

"Yes?" Tony had never really had a reason to talk with Wolverine, he always left Steve to talk to him. They had the whole ‘Brothers in Arms’ thing going. He always seemed like he would snap Tony in half if he even felt mildly threatened. And this world was proving to be no different.

Standing there as he stalked closer was like watching a feral animal. "She's married."

Tony blinked down at the shorter man. "Almost disgustingly so." He answered in agreement.

"Keep your hands to yourself or I'll be taking them from ya, yeah?" Tony heard the distinct ‘sknit’ sound of his claws coming out. "Do we have an understanding Bub?"  

"Of course." 

Those dark wild eyes watched him for a silent moment before he pulled his claws back in and walked away with a "Good."

***

Steve

The next morning he sat at the kitchen counter drawing. Something about the room kept drawing him back. Maybe it was because this room was the one that was the most familiar. It reminded him of morning spent talking with Tony as the brunette talked at the coffee machine trying to wake up.

"Oh, you're drawing." Toni greeted him walking in with her hair in a sloppy bun. Her hair was defying gravity sticking out in crazy angles. "Do you have a sketch book full of pictures of me too? You know, back in your world."

Steve dipped his head before sitting up to meet her eyes. It seemed she was just like his Tony, she didn't remember anything about last night. In her eyes was genuine curiosity, she honestly wanted to know if he had a Tony sketchbook. Somehow it was all the more embarrassing because he just knew she knew that he did. "But you haven't done nudes yet?" She asked pouring a cup of coffee.

Steve felt his face heat up. Yeah he'd done nudes but only for anatomy reference, never of a person he knew.

"I've done nudes." He answered starting again on trying to perfect the image of Tony's neck from memory. 

"Nudes of me, well you know, your world's me?"

"He's never posed for me, no."

Toni leaned against the island, lying across the surface, holding herself upright with her elbows and a cup of coffee between her hands. "But you've seen him naked. It's part of the job hazard. With your photographic memory, and your creative background I'm sure you have a few graphic pictures he'd love to see."

Steve looked up and made eye contact with this female version of Tony. She had a familiar smirk on her lips and the humor she found in this made her eyes light up. They stared at each other in silence. Toni occasionally sipping her coffee without looking away from him. He had half hoped that by remaining silent it would make Toni leave, but just like his world, that wasn't the case.

She glanced down at her coffee mug as she brought it to her lips, her long eyelashes brushing her cheeks. For a moment he thought he had won that particular battle of wills, until he realized she was looking at the sketch he had open in front of him. He moved his hand to cover it but apparently Tony knew he couldn’t refuse a direct request from her. From Him. From Tony. "Can I see it?"

Steve hesitated only a moment before grabbing the edge and tossing the book towards her. It slid across the counter to a stop at her resting elbows. She hummed in appreciation. The familiar warmth of Tony's acknowledgement settled in his chest.

"I like what he's done with the facial hair." She commented, slowly extending a hand to touch the edge of the sketch pad. "I'm happy to know that I'm just as sexy in every universe."

With a quick motion she set down her coffee and grabbed the sketch pad, turning around she held it up just as her husband walked into the room, hair wet from the post-run shower.

"Would you have sex with this handsome devil?" 

With a quick confused pull of his brow he looked at the picture, then back at his wife. "Is that the other Tony?"

"Sure is. Don't evade the question. If I were still me, but looked like this, would you still have asked me out?" His counterpart's cheeks pinked slightly with a blush, "If you were still you I don't think it would matter what you look like."

"Even with a dick?" He sighed in exasperation then reluctantly nodded, probably thinking it best to not say anything. Steve knew his own face was flushed with embarrassment _for_ his counterpart. It was a really odd question.

Toni turned the picture around so she could look down at the face of her male counterpart. "Who are we kidding, you wouldn't have asked me out. With a face like this I would be the one calling the shots."

She pushed the sketch pad back towards Steve in exchange for her coffee. "And I bet I would be the one on top," she cast a sideways glance at her husband, "seeing you all flush and needy with my cock deep inside you would be something I wouldn't be able to get enough of." She pursed her lips and hummed to herself before taking another sip of coffee. Looking down she missed the matching color of fuchsia on both men's faces.

"Toni, we have a guest, do you have to be so vulgar?" His counterpart's voice was far from normal and he looked like he was on the verge of wanting the ground to swallow him whole or hauling his wife from the room. 

"Oh you can't tell me he hasn't thought about it."

"Please stop talking." Steve begged looking down at his sketchpad-and right into the devil may cry smile his Tony was so fond of throwing at him. His blush got darker as his mind's eye supplied him an image of Tony hovering over him, his legs around the dark haired man's waist. God not now libido.

"Agent might be here today. I'd get that blush under control before you make him think your team is stationed somewhere tropical. We can't afford to have superhero protests in this city. Which reminds me," she turned towards her husband, "you have a suit to go pick up. The last one didn't quite stand up to the Hydra undercover thing."  

"And your dress?" He questioned opening the fridge for some bacon and eggs. 

"Fitted day before yesterday to be delivered sometime around noon today."  

"1:30" EDWIN corrected. "1:30." Toni repeated.

"Will you be fine here by yourself?" His counterpart asked her as he cracking open the eggs. She motioned to Steve behind her still trying to complete his drawing without blushing or actually looking at it. "Pep said she'd be here sometime before this thing starts."

"Ms. Potts will be arriving at 6:00. She anticipates departing at 6:30." EDWIN supplied.

"I'll be on time. Swear. Girl scouts honor."

"You got kicked out of the Girl Scouts." His counterpart sighed.

"Whatever. I'll be ready."

"What are you dressing up for?" Steve asked giving up on his drawing and turning the page. 

"Well tonight we have this dinner thing to go to so 'yay'. Don't know what you're going to do though. I think the world would kind of go sideways if it got out we had two Captain Americas."

Steve nodded in agreement with that. The less he was seen was probably for the best. "Do you have a training room I can-" "Go ahead, you'd be able to find something that fits you in Steve's stuff."

***

The training room looked familiar enough but the projectiles and shifting floor would appear places he wasn't full expecting making the work out more than worth his while.

Three quarters of the way through the session Clint bounded in and started attacking Steve's targets with a mocking, "You're slowing down old man."

"Not from here." Steve reminded him sharply, hitting the target half a second before Clint's arrow did.

"Still doesn't mean you aren't slow."

Steve managed to destroy two more than Clint before the session was over. Which would probably explain Clint's need to challenge him to a few rounds of hand to hand combat. After the first few rounds Clint was starting to pick up on the style he'd chosen to practice today and started aiming for his weak spots. But ever the expert Steve blocked the attack and switched his technique to a more defensive style, but lashing out when Clint took too long to attack.

Between the third and fourth rounds Steve couldn't restrain his curiosity. "So, you and Bruce huh?"

"Yeah me and Bruce." Came his easy response. 

"What's that like? Working and dating team members?"

"Not bad. I get to see him more often than some of the others I've been with. I worry about him, but it’s a different kind of worry because I know that he can take care of himself so that’s a nice change. And I think because we were teammates first he has this understanding of me that I don't have to actually say what I mean. Like he knows what my intentions are and appreciates that." Steve nodded along while mentally logging those reasons to add to his Pro and Cons list for not perusing a relationship with Tony.

Really they were nothing like that. Tony was just the only one to get his sense of humor the first time he told a joke or made an observation. And he was the only one who could tell when Tony was at his breaking point and needed sleep or food or both. It wasn't like the others didn't do those things, it just took them a lot longer to figure it out. "What did your team mates say when they found out?”

"Considering they walked in on Bruce putting the moves on me I think they're fine with it. No one said anything other than get a room. Don’t think they’d have a problem with it because ever since Steve and Toni stopped trying to go for each other's throats and got together the team has been working like a well-oiled machine.”

Steve was mildly shocked at that. "They fought?"  

"Like cats and dogs. Cap being the dog in this analogy. He'd try to make some piece offering and Toni would get upset for practically no reason. I remember this one time Cap complemented her after a mission and she rounded on him something about how she was happy he was finally using his brain instead of relying on the reports that were handed to him." Clint visually shivered at the memory. "Things finally started to get better after they started fucking. They thought they were being discreet but Bruce could smell 'em on each other and they didn't exactly make sure the doors were closed let alone locked.”

"So it was better for the team?"

"Very much so. Cap wasn't always using the coms checking for her location and status, and she wasn't always trying to undermine his authority when she's report in. They have these weird code words no one but them understands. They think they're actually talking in full sentences and it’s creepy because sometimes all they have to do is say the other's name and this long conversation will happen between them without a word."

Steve made sure to keep his jaw from falling open. _That_ sounded like him and Tony! The first few months were the absolute worst between them. Tony had never been part of a team before so he pushed back every time even the slightest order was given. It took a few, absolutely-not-a-date-get-in-the-car dinners, for Steve to finally get through to Tony that this wasn't meant to be a means to control him. It was like operating a machine. Every piece did its part but there still was one piece that told all the other pieces when it was free to move, slow down, or go faster.

Everything about the team had been better since that first conversation. They even started spending more time together, Steve hanging out in Tony's lab more often, and Tony actually coming up to join movie night. They even had their own version of shorthand for maneuvers. Steve had those with everyone on the team but he and Tony had a few that pertained to off the field.

Steve was brought back as Clint stood and stretched, "Ready to go a few more rounds? I feel this time I'm the one going to be knocking you on your ass."

He smiled at Clint's enthusiasm. "We'll see Sport."

***

Steve came into the kitchen, hair slightly damp from his shower. The borrowed clothes fit him as if they were his own and in a roundabout way they kind of were.

"Can we just make Clint cook? He is always telling us he needs more practice. Are we really going to be those unsupportive co-captains that don't encourage a man to practice his trade?" Toni sounded bored which wasn't really that big of a surprise.

"First, when did you go from second in command to co-captain? And two, are we even going to see Clint before this thing tonight? He has to walk Bruce through the 'Party ritual’ so nothing sets off the Hulk while we're there. I don't want a repeat of the Douglas Benefit." His counterpart chided her.

"Ugh, fine."

Steve came into the kitchen, happy to see he wasn't the only one who gravitated towards this room.

"Carbon copy!" She said spotting him. "What do you want for lunch? I can't decide and Steve is threatening to cook."

"Weren't you two supposed to be doing something? It's almost 1:00."

Toni raised an eyebrow at him, "We'll aren't you just Mr. Nosey. My dress is already here and you've been down there for so long Steve is back from getting his tux fitted."

"Oh."

"’Oh’ is right. Pick something, I'm starving here."

Steve shrugged, "Burgers?"

"Oh I knew I liked you. EDWIN, you heard him. Burgers."

"Shall I add a few extra number three combos to the regular order?"

"You're reading my mind baby."

Steve smiled at the familiar banter between Tony and his AI. It was slightly odd being around Tony but not being around Tony. It made him realize just how big a part the mouthy brunette had become in his life. There weren't many days that went by that he didn't interacting with the man at least once.

"You know, I forgot just how much you can eat." His counterpart commented to his wife.

Steve choked on his own spit.

The couple largely ignored the reaction. "You’re such a gentleman, Baby. If someone hadn't banned me from the lab, _Pepper_ , the days we have these stupid functions we wouldn't even be having this conversation. Honestly food is just a distraction at best." She pushed away from the counter and rounded until she was on the same side of the counter as her husband. "But there are a few other distractions I don’t mind. Do you want to start guessing?" She bumped her hip against him and tilted her head up for a kiss.

His counterpart set down his glass of water and gave her his full attention, arms coming to wrap around her waist leaning down to give her a peck on the lips. "Meetings won’t happen to be on that list would it?” He joked smiling down at her.

“Hmm, I was thinking of a distraction that’s more along the lines of you all buttoned up in a tux. It’s criminal that you look _that_ sexy and not be molested in the hall closet."

Steve honestly couldn't remember the last time had felt this uncomfortable so many times in such a short amount of time. Nothing came to mind. Well being caught watching a documentary on self-made celebrities by said self-made celebrity had been terribly embarrassing. But that was only brought up from time to time; Steve imagined it was just so Tony could see what color of red he could turn.

"Um, let me know when the food gets here." Steve announced turning and starting for the hall.

“No, wait, stop, what happened? Why are you running from the room?” Toni asked from the circle of her husband’s arms. “It’ll be here in like less than 10, sit.”

Steve bit back the first retort about never running from anything and settled for a question of his own, "How are you two so open about _that_ when I’m right here?"

That really wasn’t what he wanted to say either.

"Because you are my husband.” Toni replied giving him a small shrug, “You might not be the same person but I can’t imagine what I feel for this man-“ she pated her husband’s shoulder “-to not translating to another world just because I’m a man there. I don't mind treating you as I would my own husband, minus the physical bit because that’s just weird, because you _are_ my husband. You already know everything about me in your world and you haven’t left yet.” She finished with another shrug.

The growing twist in his stomach was enough to make him feel light headed. That was as close to a confession as he would probably ever get from Tony. And it hurt because that was probably the only confession he’d ever hear from Tony, and it wasn’t even _his_ Tony.

“Lunch has arrived.” JARVIS announced. 

“I’ll get it.” He volunteered need to escape from the room. Needing to get away from her words that made him question his resolve to not want anything more than the friendship he had.

***

Tony

Just as they sat down for lunch a loud tone sounded through the tower followed by JARVIS' voice. "Hydra forces are currently marching the streets. They are equipped with unknown weapons that are vaporizing civilians as they flee the scene." Well that sounded fucking terrible.

A screen appeared against the glass wall, images of heavily geared men walking in formation down the street firing at random.

"Avengers Assemble! All of you." Stella gathered Isaac up into a hug then turned towards Tony, suddenly he had an armful of toddler. "Stay in the tower. If you have to JARVIS will provide an auto piloted suit for you and a transport pod for Isaac." She flipped up her wrist to expose an idea Tony had been tossing around for a while. A communication bud that stored easily against the skin in some form of unassuming jewelry and was always charged and ready for use.

Stella took hold of his jaw and fitted the device in his ear before he could protest. "Take this and we'll let you know if evacuation is needed." She bent slightly so she was eye level with Isaac, "I love you my baby boy. Uncle Tony is going to stay with you until we get back." Isaac leaned forward and gave his mother a hug, resting his little head on her shoulder for a brief second in a full body hug.

The com in his ear crackled to life as the suit's projected voice filling his ear, "Captain, we're expected on site in five."

Tony touched Stella's arm and Isaac's back, "Iron Man says you have five minutes to get there."

With a nod Isaac was back in his arms and Stella was running down the hall towards the master bedroom and her gear.

"Well little man," Tony shifted him awkwardly on his hip, "What do you think we should do?"

"I wanna play bots." He replied wiggling to be set down.

"We're a go." He heard Stella's authoritative tone in his ear and a streak of red, gold, and blue shot across the picture window heading for downtown.

Isaac grabbed Tony's hand and pulled him towards the elevator. "Bots are in Daddy's big-big room. Comeon."

- 

"Report."

"Lots of scared people out here." Came Spider-Man's response. "It looks like the guns take a few seconds before they can fire a second time. They also don't penetrate solid objects, it's just people and it has to touch skin."

"Good to know. Giant Girl, Wolverine, status."

"ETA less than one minute." Jan replied. "Heard from Thor, he'll be here in about five." She added.

- 

The elevator gave a low ding as it opened to a large workshop. "Comeon." Isaac encouraged pulling him with strength that showed his parentage. "JAR’IS. Red bots please." He demanded walking away from the cases of armor that lined one of the walls.

The room itself was huge. Easily two stories if he had to guess. There were a dozen or so cars and motorcycles lined up across the room, a few work benches near a larger desk adjacent to a kitchenette. He was being lead towards a lower workbench filled with various electrical wires and color coded metal pieces.

Isaac let go of his hand and handed him a blue robot. "Here." He then settled himself in front of the red metal pieces and started attaching wires to the half formed bot in front of him.

- 

"We're on site." Stella reported followed by a soft "Dear God." from his counterpart.

"Hi guys. It feels like forever since we last got together, we should hang out more outside of crazy Black Hand affiliated groups." Spider-Man babbled, his speech broken, Tony assumed it was as he launched himself at things.

 "Iron Man, do we know what we're dealing with here?"

"It's nothing I recognize but the energy signature is off the charts when they fire."

"Set me down on top of the group in the back. Giant Girl, if you can't cover your hands don't take the chance of engaging, get the civilians to safety. Wolverine find a mask and attack from the West, Iron Man attack from the East. We need to round these guys up and disarm them."

There was a crack in the ear piece then his own voice in his ear, "Stay safe Stella."

"Be careful Tony." Was her soft reply.

Then the sound of fighting started as they knocked their way through Hydra agents.

- 

"JARVIS, is there a live feed of the fight?"

"There is SHIELD personal in the vicinity. I can patch you through the security cameras."

"Thanks J."

Isaac had busied himself with the mechanical parts so Tony turned to the workbench next to it and watched Stella punching her way through the back of the group of about thirty. She was matching his Steve move for move and throwing punches that were knocking grown men off their feet. She was kinda terrifying to watch in action.

A white blue light flashed across the picture, erasing a SHIELD agent just inside the picture in an almost eerie fashion.

He recognized that light.

He glanced at Isaac then hit the button in his ear piece that would allow him to talk to the team.

-

"Do you have a MODOK in this world?"

"It sounded like you sneezed midsentence, a what?" Spider-Man asked with humor in his voice.

"Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing, a MODOK. Ugly thing with a huge face and little limbs, has technopathic powers, super evil, claims to be the perfect blend of human and machine." 

"Have I mentioned how weird it is that he's from a world that's like ours but sideways?"

"We have a thing called KODOM that fits that description. What about him?" Stella asked finished her question with a grunt as she used her shield to ram a charging goon.

"It." Was the chorus of Spider-Man and Iron Man.

"Boys." Captain America chided. 

"Sorry Cap!" 

"That thing built a teleportation device. I've seen it in action; I think that's what's happening now. Why people are disappearing, they're being teleported somewhere." Tony rushed to explain.

Stella grunted as he knocked another Hydra to the ground. "Can you find the location?"

"I'm going to need leg work on the ground but yeah, it's possible."

"Tell us what you need."

"Evil twin, I need you to get a full spectrum scan of the energy their weapons are giving off. We can use that to start scanning for similar energy signatures to find where these people are being sent."

-

Something must have intrigued Isaac because he scooted a stool over and Tony helped him seat himself so he could see the live video and the calculations.

He had a half-finished red bot in hand with various wire sticking every which way.

He set the bot down onto the bench and grabbed at the live feed from the table. With a shove motion the video appeared in holographic form in front of them.

Tony smiled at him as he rested his little chin on his fisted hand and leaned on the table with his elbows. The small pout on his face made him look like the embodiment of bored. 

- 

"Scans are headed your way now Twin 2."

"I want you to know I'm deeply amused by this exchange. Like I would be in tears right now if we weren't you know, saving the day." Spider-Man informed them. 

"Got 'em. Don't destroy all the guns until I'm sure we have a lock on them." Tony warned.

- 

"That's backwards."

"Uh?" Issac was looking at one of the equations for honing in on the signature. He had thrown it together as to not lose his train of thought and intended to look it over again before he entered it to the system. 

"This whole thing and this whole thing," his little fingers pointed to each of the equations in turn "are backwards. They need to look like this." He moved the numbers around then strung them out in a single long line instead of wrapping them. He scrubbed back and forth over the numbers with a nod at each section.

"Okay." He said sliding the equation back to Tony.

- 

Cap's voice brought him back, "Status Tinman." 

"Seriously a Wizard of OZ joke? Ugh, your mini Einstein just breezed through a college level calculation, it's searching now."

"He comes by it honestly. How long until you find these people?"

"We'll know in about five minutes. I'm only having it search in a thirty mile radius from their current location. Transporting that many people any type of long distance would kill them, so I'm assuming they aren't aiming to have a bunch of dead bodies."

"Because we needed that level of detail." Spider-Man groaned sounding disturbed.

- 

A blip appeared on the screen, flashing over Queens. "Got it. Wait, isn't that Hammer Industries?"

Isaac's little hands zoomed out on the map.

"Hey!"

- 

"What are you seeing?" Came Cap's authoritative tone.

"I'm being taken over by a munchkin. What is with his grabby hands?"

"What is Isaac doing in reach of the holograms anyway?" Iron Man mused.

"Chatter." Cap snapped, "You said the signal is also appearing at Hammer Industries? Are you sure about that?"

- 

"I seem to be missing a screen but y-" A second blip appeared on the screen as Issac continued to zoom out on the map of the city. "Wait. I think there are two locations."

Apparently satisfied with himself Issac turned to the bot he had brought with him and started dancing it along the edge of the panel. Casting a glance at the now reengaged child, Tony isolated the two locations.

"JARVIS, can I get detail on these two buildings?"

"Of course Sir, one location is the Hammer Industries facility, the other location is a warehouse owned exclusively to a businessman Dell Rusk. It seems the facility location is putting out a higher energy source than that of the warehouse." 

"Meaning more people are being sent to Hammer."

"It would seem that way Sir."

-

"Well shit."

"Language." Captain America cautioned, "What did out find?”

“Ah, impressionable child. Right. There are two locations. The higher of the two is Justin Hammer’s front lawn and the other is a large empty building owned by a Dell Rusk, out on the docks.” Tony answered.

“Why does that sound familiar?” Spider-Man started.

- 

“Iron Man, Giant girl-” A loud thunder clap swallowed Captain America’s words followed by the hum of electricity.

“Oh good, Thor’s back.” Came the relieved sounding Giant Girl through the crackle of the coms.

“Thor!” He heard Cap yell then the line was filled with the sound of her fighting. The holographic display showed her knocking men left and right, working her way towards the God of thunder.

“Fair Captain.” Thor greeted. He didn’t have an active line to the communications channel, but Tony didn’t think he needed one with how loud he could get.

“Thor, I need you, Wolverine, Giant Girl, and Iron Man to stop them down here then get to Hammer Industries. There are a lot of hostages there. Do minimal damage to the building, but get them out." She directed, throwing her shield at an approaching group.

"Aye Captain." Was his reply then he was airborne.

"Spider-Man, to me. We are headed to the warehouse district."

"Going to play launch-a-Cap to get there?" Came Spider-Man's disapproving voice.

"Yes, we can get there in two." She sounded almost excited. With a heavy sigh Spider-Man appeared a few yards in front of Stella.

"I don't like launch-a-Cap either." Came Iron Man's voice, "I can get you there faster if I-"

"Shellhead, you're needed here to stop Hydra from getting more people. We don't know what side effect that device could be having on the ones who have been hit, we need to end this.” She motioned to the teen. “Spider-Man." Spider-Man shot two lines of webbing at Stella then pulled with a grunt to get her airborne. At the top of arc he let go of the webbing and Stella continued like a shot.

Tony felt his throat close around a gasp.

What the fuck just happened? Did Spider-Man intend to _catch her_!?

With a mock salute to the Iron Man on the field, Spider-Man turned and followed the direction he sent Captain America flying.

A few not quite breaths later, there was the sound of a vibranium shield hitting something hard and Cap grunted. "That was three blocks, might be a PR for you Spider."

"Ha ha. Laugh it up Cap. You know I hate doing this, I don't care how much you enjoy flying."

Tony imagined they did it again as a few moments later he heard the shield hit something immovable.

On the holographic display Wolverine had moved onto tearing apart the Hydra transport that dropped off the green clad maniacs to begin with. He was taking swipes at anyone who got close.

Giant Girl was about 9 feet tall and successfully wrestling the weapons from each minion that dared approach her. She would then either bend the barrel of the gun or snap it in half.

Thor was keeping the air charged with enough static to make the camera feeds slightly hazy. He would toss Mjolnir into a group of Hydra and they would go down like dominos. He couldn't see his counterpart but an occasional flash of repulsor told him he was around.

As the numbers started thinning out more SHIELD personal appeared on site. They were handcuffing and dragging away the unconscious Hydra goons. Handcuffing the ones without weapons, who at that point, were going almost peacefully.

- 

"Tinman, is there anything else you can tell us about this device from your world?" Captain America asked around a light crackle of the coms.

"MODOK built the device, but he was working under the order of the Red Skull." The line went silent as the team let that knowledge sink in.

Wolverine was the first the break the silence as he let out a snarl that made the hair on the back of Tony's neck stand up.

"And Dell Rusk owns the warehouse out here?"

"Yes."

- 

"Damn." If Stella swearing was anything like Steve swearing this was about to get bad. "Dell Rusk is an anagram-"

"That's why it sounded familiar!" Was Spider-Man's frustrated cry.

"-for Red Skull. Red Skull is here somewhere, if not in this building then at Hammer Industries."

"We're done on the streets. I'm coming to you." Iron Man interrupted.

"No, you take the team to Hammer Industries. Find him, get answers then come here."

"This building is giving me the creeps Cap." Spider-Man stage whispered.

"Stay focused we're looking for people that look like they don't want to be here." Cap's voice had dropped in volume as well. 

"If I weren't wearing the spandex I'd think that'd be me." Spider-Man sing songed back.

"Hammer isn't doing much to hide them. They're on the ground floor. East wing. There's close to 100 people there." Iron Man informed them. 

"Get them out. Have SHIELD take them into protection so we can debrief them and get them home." Was Cap's soft command.

Inside the warehouse Spider-Man seemed to be the first to find three hostages. "Found three suits Cap. Easy as pie. No one ever looks-" His remark was cut off with a sharp pop and a grunt, then a softer 'ouch'.

"Spider-Man!" Came Cap's soft shocked tone.

"Up. Apparently someone does, that hurt!" He hissed trying to stay quiet.

"Come out little spider." A deep male voice called. It echoed off the walls enough for the coms to pick it up. 

- 

Tony felt his spine stiffen at that voice.

-

"I know where you are, your faithful Captain isn't far behind." He called.

"Spider-Man, I want you to take the hostages and get out of here. I will handle the Red Skull." Came Cap's hushed whisper.

"Aye aye Cap." Was his soft response.

"Schmitt!" Captain America yelled, her voice echoing off the empty walls and back to the coms.

"There you are my dearest Stella. I was beginning to wonder if you had misplaced my invitation."

There was no visual of where Stella and Peter were, but Tony could imagine the Red Skull looking menacing in his dark color pallet and angry colored head.

"It would have truly been a shame. The main event was put together with you in mind. These men personally selected by me," There was a click of a gun hammer being cocked back. "due to their decision to publically back the ragtag group that you call the Avengers. What future World Dictator doesn’t want dead political Avenger supporters?"

There was the sound of gun fire, a sharp metal twang, and then a grunt of pain from the Red Skull.

"You stupid fool!" His rage echoed throughout the warehouse. Tony imagined Stella had done something he’d only seen Steve do on two occasions. Use the shield to deflect a bullet back at the point of origin. It demanded perfect timing and speed. Both he had no doubt Stella exhibited flawlessly in battle.

"Nothing will stop me tearing down the world you've created for yourself! You were weak then and you are weak now. If you insist on refusing to join me I will dismantle everything you hold dear! Your arrogant husband. Your infant son. Even your team will fall to me."

Tony glanced at Isaac. The small boy oblivious to the threats of a madman. He was in danger of every enemy the Avengers had ever faced. If a foe knew of Isaac's existence then he was at risk. How did his parents stand it? Why was he not in a plastic, bullet proof, bunker as far away from civilization and these crazies as possible? 

There was a short sharp wail over the coms Tony had come to associate with MODOK's transportation trick.

"I will not stop until you are left with nothing. You were nothing a century ago, and you are nothing now!" 

They must have transported away because the crackle was back and Cap growled. "Tinman can you trace where they went?"

Tony zoomed out further on the map hoping a third blip would appear. "Nothing. I don't see anything else. Where ever they went it far away from here."

"Team, the Skull is wounded. It'll be at least a few days until we see him again. Our hostages are a little shaken, but intact. What is your status?"

"There are a lot of people here Cap, but they seem to be ok." Giant Girl replied.

"I found Justin Hammer, SHIELD is taking him in now." Was Iron Man's reply.

Thor rumbled something the coms couldn't quite pick up. "And who ever decided that Thor should have a list of catch phrases remind me to lock you out of the tower for a week."

***

Steve

Steve had been half-heartedly pawing at a Stark pad for the past hour in the empty living room. The team had disappeared to get ready for their PR event tonight and it left him with nothing to do.

“It’s not like you to not be ready for one of these events.” Pepper said walking in looking stunning in a form fitting, light silver cocktail dress. The beaded neck line swooped to show off her collar bone and the up twist of her bun showed off the elegant curve of her neck “Except when Toni is refusing to remove her hand from your shirt maybe, but you’d at least have slacks on.”

Steve stood from the couch as a blush rose to his cheeks with the image. “I imagine Toni’s husband is upstairs currently putting on a formal shirt uninterrupted. I heard Toni and Jan down here talking a bit ago.” He held out his hand, “Steve Rogers from universe 107. I’ve never been prevented from putting on a formal shirt.” 

Pepper blinked at him for half a second before signing with a smile and taking his hand. “That’s a shame. And Toni failed to inform me the team was expecting guests.” 

He released her hand with a nervous chuckle, “It’s an unexpected visit.”

“Reed Richards?”

“Afraid so.”

She smiled and motioned for him to follow her. "JARVIS, Toni’s location please?"

"Mrs. Rogers is currently in the garage." 

"Well at least she's kind of in the right place. I’m sorry I can’t be overly curious as I have to get Toni dressed and out of here on time." Pepper said as she keyed in the code to get to the lab from the elevator.

“That’s alright. I think I had enough questions last night.”

Pepper laughed softly. “Yeah, I guess this group does get a little excited.”

Once the doors opened the music was almost deafening.

"Volume!" Pepper called into the lab and the level dropped to an almost whisper.

"Please don't turn off my music!" Toni’s muffled response floated up from behind a mostly torn apart engine.

"You were supposed to be ready an hour ago, have you been down here all day?" Pepper asked standing near a work bench.

"No, I showered and all the good stuff."

"Upstairs. We have to get you ready for this."

"I am ready." She said rounding the car, wearing a rich red evening gown. It seemed rather modest compared to what he had been expecting of a dressed-to-kill female Tony. The neck line covered her collar bone, sufficiently hiding where Steve assumed was her arc reactor. The floor length dress was form fitting, highlighting her ample curves. The gown had long sleeves that she had pushed halfway up her forearm. She was wiping her hands on a grease stained rag. "I've been ready since 5:00. If my entourage would show up fashionably early we might actually get somewhere."

Toni set down her rag and turned to flip open a box on the work bench and the notion of it being a modest dress flew out the window. There was absolutely no back to the dress. Her hair was pulled up in curls with a few strands falling to rest about her shoulders but it did nothing to hide her bare shoulders blades. The dress opened at her shoulders, the sleeves resting just enough on top they won’t fall but it dipped so low he could see the curve of her lower back.  

She was rolling silvery looking putty in her hands and glancing at Pepper before tossing the putty at her. "No-” Pepper reflexively caught it, “Toni! Oh. God I hate this thing." 

She wrestled the substance off her hand as Toni turned to face him. "Did you wanna see my race car?"

She was rolling her sleeves back down and blinking her big brown eyes up at him expectantly.

"Toni we don't have time, if we don't leave in the next fifteen minutes we're going to be late." Pepper said stuffing the putty back into its box.

 Steve knew for a fact that trying to steer Tony out of the lab was like trying to heard cats. He'd heard Sam mutter it from time to time and he always felt it was an apt description.

"Can't leave without the team and no one is here yet." Toni pointed out.

“Some of the team isn’t here yet.” Jan supplied walking up behind them. Her black floor length dress had a high slit up one leg and only one shoulder partly covered in a black see-through material. The bust line looked like black lace with her skin showing through. But Steve knew for a fact it was a flesh colored fabric that gave the illusion of nothing underneath. That had been another fun point of the modern fashion Tony had quietly mocked him through to an explanation. 

“I still claim the right to be ready first.” Toni announced resting a hand on her hip.

“Oh?” Jan teased, “Were you promised a special something like you were last time?”

Toni’s eyes turned sharp as she smiled at Jan, “It’s so good I don’t even feel obligated to share.”

Pepper rolled her eyes and Jan giggled.

The elevator announced the next occupants with a soft ding.

It was Bruce and Clint. Both men were wearing black suits, Clint with a black bow tie and Bruce with a black tie. They were walking towards them with their fingers laced talking in soft tones.

"So nice of you two come out of the love nest and join us." Toni drawled as they grew closer.

"Stuff it Stark. We would still be there if we could be." Clint replied giving Bruce a small smile. Bruce beamed at him.

Trying and failing to hide a smirk at the two of them Toni glanced at her wrist as if checking the time. "Speaking of stuffing it, has anyone seen Steve?"

"That was a horrible introduction." Said Steve called from across the room. He had come down the stairs able to make a silent entry. He was fitted perfectly in a black suit with a white shirt and slim tie. It was nice to see that the suit he wore back home was acceptable here too.

"You will wait." He heard Pepper say quietly, but firmly before turning and seeing Toni all but ready to pounce on the man. 

"Baby, if events like this mean we get to doll you up we need to have more PR events." Steve felt himself smiling because it was a comment similar to something Tony said the first time they had to attend their own formal event.  "And by more, I mean weekly." Toni purred at her husband as he came to stand next to her, expanding their growing circle.

"Do we know where Thor is?" Jan questioned after giving his counterpart the once over. Somehow he knew her approval was more for the suit as a whole rather than him in them. 

"We passed him on the way down." Clint supplied with a shrug. His hand had gone from being intertwined with Bruce's to resting on the back of the smaller man's neck. "He was ready except for his tie."

There was loud thump from the elevator. Almost as if the cage had hit the inner wall of the elevator shaft. Jan turned to Pepper, “You don’t think he would being _him_ do you?” 

Pepper closed her eyes almost as if to ward off the impending headache. “It won’t be the first time.”

The elevator doors opened with a ‘ding’ but no one stepped out. Toni shifted to lean a hip against her husband, "Stop necking on him and get out here big guy. We're going to be late as it is."

Thor didn't quite stumble out of the elevator. His hair looked like it had been pulled from pony tail at the back of his head, and his tie was still undone around his neck. "Friends." He greeted them with a wide smile. His lips looking shiny and slightly reddened. Almost like-almost like he had been kissing someone.

Not a half moment later a tall curvy raven haired woman stepped out of the elevator. She had a dark shawl draped over her shoulders and a form hugging dark green dress that dipped low between her breasts to show a generous amount of cleavage. There was no way the fabric should have been able to be _that_ supportive. As she moved to take Thor’s large bicep in hand he noticed the dress had slits almost to the curve of her hip to show off her tone legs. It wasn’t someone he would have pegged Thor to be involved with.

"Hello again." She acknowledged the group with a small smirk as her emerald eyes took in the seven of them. 

"Loki,” Jan replied with a smile, “it's always a pleasure." Her tone more polite than he’d thought it’d be based on the exchange with Pepper. 

Wait, _that_ was _Loki_? 

With a clap of her hands Pepper announced it was time to leave.

***

Steve didn't have plans to leave the tower per se but it just happened that today was the day he went to visit old friends. He hadn't missed a visit since he woke up from the ice and he didn't intent to miss one now.

"Sir, if you are going out I would suggest wearing something that doesn't announce your ability to throttle grown men into submission with one hand." EDWIN offered as Steve checked his boots and picked up his shield. 

"Where am I going to find-" "Of course Mrs. Rogers encouraged you to help yourself to any of the Captain's wardrobe. I'm sure you will be able to find something suitable there. If you cannot I will be more than happy to assist in selecting an appropriate ensemble." Glancing down at his uniform he decided a change of clothes probably would be best.

He followed the same path he had this morning to find workout clothes. With EDWIN's approval he selected a pair of simple black pants and a modest button down shirt. He tossed around the idea of taking off his uniform and just wearing the civilian clothes but dismissed the idea quickly enough because he wouldn't be able to strap his shield to his back without the vibranium magnets in the back of his suit. So wearing the clothes over his uniform was his only option. They were so tight anyway there would be no way to tell he was wearing it under the clothes. If nothing else it would make him feel more prepared. Settling the shield on his back he started for the door- "If I may, a coat might be the thing you need to complete your disguise." -only for EDWIN to blow a hole through his plan.

More than anything he didn't want to leave his shield behind in case he needed it. "How big of coat are we talking?"

"The right corner of the walk in closet will answer that question. There are three colors to choose from, I would suggest the charcoal."

Steve found the charcoal colored trench coat and shrugged it on. "The coats were custom made for Captain Rogers to disguise wearing the shield while among civilians."

It wasn't a half bad idea. He might invest in a couple of these of his own. Maybe EDWIN could tell him where they were made and see if his world has something similar. Before he could voice the question another thought occurred to him, "This is the most I've heard you talk since I got here EDWIN, you have plans you’re trying to kick me out for?” 

There was a pause, just long enough for Steve to think he wasn't going to get an answer. "The Captain has expressed his displeasure of my input on multiple occasions."

Steve looked sharply up at the ceiling, "Why? You were designed to assist Toni where ever you can, why would he deny you that?"

"Captain Rogers is not fond of the programming that allows me to, as he stated, 'contribute to the vulgarity that is Toni's mind." EDWIN interrupted himself with an almost inaudible ding, something Steve had never heard JARVIS do, before EDWIN’s smooth British tones continued. "Unless the time is after 9:32 and there are no active threat warning higher than 3.98."

Steve gave a chuckle. The AI had just released complied behavioral information. Something his Tony had explained to him once about JARVIS so he won’t have to constantly reprogram his AI to better serve the occupants of the mansion. The pause and low tone must have been his way of making sure his audience was appropriate before relaying it.

***

The visit to the cemetery was quiet, giving Steve time to think about the Captain America/Iron Man duo here. They were obviously in love and it was causing him to question his own hesitation with asking his Tony out. It seemed that everything this Toni did was almost exactly like his Tony. But the big question he couldn't seem to figure out was 'did the two get together because they were a male/female couple or was it because of the person?' He wanted to believe they loved each other because of who they were, but he was wise enough to understand relationships don't always work that way.

The street lights were beginning to cast their own shadows when Steve heard glass breaking and sharp commands. Running before he could think to do otherwise, Steve rounded a building almost running into a small squad of heavily armed men. They were dressed in thick Kevlar and had black solid protective facemasks. They were loading up the back of a van with bags of items from the jewelry store their black van was parked in front of. His sudden appearance startled them and they stared at each other in a half moment of silent assessment. The man each had an almost comically large gun strapped to their backs meaning they would need time to retrieve them, which gave him the chance to strike first.

With a battle cry he leapt forward and rammed his elbow into the gut of the nearest man. The man doubled over as the air was forced from his lungs and he slumped to the ground. The man to his left stepped forward to take a swing at Steve's head. Ducking under the punch he brought his fist up to connect with the chin of the man's mask. It cracked under the force of his punch and knocked the man off his feet and back.

The next one tried to come from his blind spot, his fist raised aiming at his seemly exposed back. Steve timed his evade so the man's hand would make contact with his hidden shield before he moved away. With the sickening crunch of broken bone Steve tucked and rolled towards the next target, leaving the broken man to howl in pain. He took a swing at the man in front of him only to have the man dodge his assault. With a touch of surprise Steve came at him again with a couple fists and a leg sweep. The man managing to dodge the punches but not the kick at his legs.

Behind him he heard the click of a round entering a gun chamber and tried to move away, but the thug had already pulled the trigger. Pain blossomed on the outside of his left thigh where the bullet had grazed him. He knew the black pants would hide the blood relatively well but he would need to finish up here so he could get the wound cleaned and bandaged as soon as possible. Maybe it was time he took Tony up on that offer to look into spandex type material that could stop bullets.

An arm came around his neck and one under his arm, in a hold Tony had often teased him about inventing, before he could break the grip, a punch hard enough to break a normal man's ribs, connected to his chest. They were well coordinated once the surprise wore off he’d give them that.

As the man pulled back to punch again his hand was halted mid-swing by familiar webbing. "The saying goes 'pick on someone your own size' but that doesn't mean you go around punching big guys. That's just rude."

Using Spider-Man's entrance he quickly broke the hold and knocked the man to the ground with a quick jab. Spider-Man was going hand to hand with the one who had been able to get a hit on him while shooting webs at the other trying to escape. In a manner of two minutes since his appearance Spider-Man had the entire group down and webbed to the nearest surface.

"So," Spider-Man started as he leaned against the dark van. He tucked his legs under him, sticking to the side of the vehicle, looking as though he were in a relaxed crouch - against a wall. "No offence guy, but you should leave the fighting to the professionals. You got some lucky hits in there, but when you hit a guy he's supposed to say down. Not get back up a few seconds later."

This Spider-Man seemed a little bigger than the Spider-Man in his world. His shoulders were broader and through his costume it even looked like his muscles more defined. It dawned on him this Spider-Man was built like a _young man_ , the Spider-Man he was used to was more of a child. That warranted further investigation at the soonest opportunity.

Steve gave the reflective lenses staring back at him a slight eye brow raise. "Is having a non-lethal sticky substance on hand at all times part of that lesson?" 

Spider-Man brought an arm up to rest on his knee and rested his chin on his fist. "No, you'd need more spandex for that lesson. But I must say the business casual 'just back from a steak dinner' look isn't bad."

Steve glanced down at his still clean dress to the bullet hole in his slacks. The black did really well to hide the bleeding. "It keeps the villains paranoid,” he said conversationally, discreetly turning so his thigh was covered in shadow, preventing the blood from reflecting light, “they never know where I might be."

Spider-Man laughed then gestured to the broken window with his free hand. "Are you sure you want to be here when the cops show up? They barely tolerate me but they might not buy you're on the side of good while wearing such a stylish trench coat."

Steve weighted his options. Steve Rogers of this world was expected to be at a dinner benefit in honor of the Avengers tonight. It wouldn't be good for another Steve Rogers to be seen at a crime scene, no matter what side of the fight he'd been on.

And then there was Spider-Man.

He was in danger of Norman Osborn getting a hold of him and more than likely dissecting him according to the team back at the mansion. No one had been able to get in contact with the arachnid in months; this might be their only chance to get through to the web slinger. But how to explain he was Captain America yet wasn't?

"Do you know of Reed Richards?" He imagined he was on the receiving end of a long blink as Spider-Man's head snapped to him and held for a moment before he muttered a hesitant, "Yeah?" "Are you aware there are other universes? Sometimes parallel to this one and others different in subtle or sometimes drastic ways?" He could see the muscles in Spider-Man's legs tense in anticipation, his hand slowly falling away from his propped up head.

"It's been explained to me before." He urged. 

"Even in my world, Norman Osborn is not a man you handle alone and you shouldn't have to.” Spider-Man placed a hand on the van and kicked out, preformed a graceful backflip to land into a crouch on the top of the van to stare down at Steve Looking up at the man Steve recognized the position of possible quick retreat. “The Avengers will help you anyway they can but you have to let them."

They were quiet for a while, police sirens wailing in the distance. "I want to ask for their help, I really do. But I can't for the sake of my family. If the world finds out who I am, they will always be in danger. I'd rather have that mad man Osborn hunting me rather than go after them."

Never growing up with a family himself the Avengers was probably the closest he could relate to worry about the safety of others. But his others were superheroes in their own right, more than capable of taking care of themselves. The stress that would come with having to worry about the safety of civilians he comes home to daily, he couldn't imagine.

"They would take your family in too you know." The angle and the light reflecting off the eyes of his mask made him look like a child even though Steve could physically see he wasn't so short in stature. He’d offered the housing without thinking, but he knew it wasn’t an empty offer. It was true because that's what he would have offered if he were back home. What he will offer to his own world's Spider-Man when he sees him next.

"They really would?" Came the arachnid’s hesitant reply. 

Steve nodded, "As long as you're not filling up a wing of the mansion I don't see why not." 

He gave a soft laugh, "No, no."

They fell quiet again and the sirens grew louder. Steve knew he was running out of time. "Next time the Avengers come looking for you talk to them." He urged. 

Spider-Man nodded once, "I will."

Steve smiled up at him then turned and started jogging back towards the alley. "Hey!" Spider-Man called after him. He turned on his good leg to shout back a, 

"Yeah?" 

Spider-Man was standing on the van now. "How do I know you’re not a crazy person?” A laugh caught in his throat, _that_ was the Spider-Man he was used to. 

Not wanting to yell his call tag, or his real name in the middle of the night he settled for, "Steve107!" With a wave he turned and disappeared into the darkness of the alley.

***

Tony

The team hadn’t returned from cleaning up the Hydra mess until the sun had been down for a few hours. Issac had exhausted himself constructing the bots in the lab and wanted to watch a movie. He had fallen asleep on the couch about ten minutes into some colorful show about friendship. Tony wasn't sure if moving him would wake him up so he draped a blanket over his small form and made sure he was comfortable. 

He had located a printer and killed a small tree printing the armor upgrade he had been working on the night before. Double sided and size six font with no margins apparently meant nothing. He had returned to his guest room when the team had returned quiet and tired. The sheets of code were laying across his borrowed bed and he was trying to figure out how he was going to get the upgrades home with him when a soft knock came at the partially opened door.

"Come in." He called over his shoulder.

Stella opened the door, leaving her hand on the knob as if not to intrude on him. "I saw that the light was still on and thought you might want to join me in the kitchen for warm milk?"

The similarity to his own Steve gave him a sharp twang of homesickness. Clamping down on his longing for his own world, he plastered on a smile and gathered up the papers in a pile and started for the door. "I'd love to."

She studied him for a silent moment before giving him a small smile and turned to lead him into the commons rooms. "I wasn’t able to ask earlier today, but did you sleep okay? I know you weren't asleep very long." She commented motioning for him to take a seat at the counter while she opened the fridge.

"Don't need much sleep. The genus can't handle being off that long." He joked as she retrieved the milk from the fridge. 

She glanced at him with a smile, "I think my Tony doesn't sleep when I'm not here, but I can't get it out of him or JARVIS if it's true."

"If he's anything like me I imagine he's lost at least a few couple hundred hours of sleep worrying about what Captain America is doing." They lapsed into a comfortable silence as she stirred the milk to a slow boil.

"Is the Captain America in your world really a man?"

"Think Clint Eastwood manly." 

Stella smiled at the cups she was measuring out and handed him one. "Reed left a message earlier today just after the call had come in. He wanted me to tell you he received confirmation that your Captain America is safe and with that world's Iron Man and Captain America." She paused as he let out a sigh of relief he hadn't realized he was holding. "Reed also mentioned because we know where you both are we can send you back home the same way to were pulled through.

“You know, minus the lack of warning." 

Tony smiled into his mug, there was Rogers' dorky sense of humor. "That would be appreciated."

They drank in silence for a while before Tony couldn't keep the question in any longer.

“How did you become Captain America?" Stella studied him for a moment before looking out the window at the skyline that was New York City. Just for a moment she looked so lost, her eyes focusing on nothing in particular. Then she smiled, as if remembering something she'd forgotten. The genuine happiness of it had Tony looking down at the cup in his hand, he didn't understand how these people could just let so much emotion out freely without even trying.

"Let's start with the fact that I'm 113 years old." Tony felt an eye brow go up but didn't comment. “The war had been going on for two years when I started trying to get accepted into the military. I knew I didn’t want to be a nurse like all the other women. All the fellas I knew from the orphanage had gone into the service and I didn’t want to be at home waiting for them to return. I was a tiny thing back then, barely 100 pounds soaking wet, but I knew I had to do everything I could to help the effort.” She paused staring down at her cooling milk. “I met a General at a Recruiting Center during the Stark Expo.”

“He asked me if I wanted to kill the Black Hand. I told him I didn’t want anybody dead, I just didn’t like bullies. He took me to another room and introduced me to Dr. Erskine. He was such a kind man even though his heritage had everyone treating him poorly. After basic camp and a brief trip through a metal coffin, I came out looking like this. And they say the rest is history.”

Sometime during her story Tony had returned to watching her. The expressions that ran across her face during her story were like watching a warped image of Steve. He knew that was exactly what he was looking at, but to _know_ that there was another dimension out there versus actually _seeing_ the other dimension was still difficult for him to wrap his head around. He didn’t want her to stop talking. He didn’t want to close off the unguarded image of Steve.

"Did they not have concerns about you being a woman?" 

The muscle in her jaw jumped as she clenched her teeth. She met his eyes, calculating him for a moment before she sighed. "They choose me _because_ I am a woman. Dr. Erskine told me about other attempts they'd tried. How the men would die because their bodies rejected the serum, or how one went mad and grew so strong they had to kill him because there was no reasoning with him.”

She paused to fiddle with the handle of her mug. Then continued in a softer voice, “The Red Skull was the first and only one to survive before me but they considered that a failure as he went mad. The serum wasn't perfect when I went under but it was getting close. They assumed because I was a woman I would be easier to control if something did go wrong like with the Red Skull.

"The USO tours were a way to keep me well under thumb until they were sure I was the perfect little soldier and followed every order. That worked well until a USO trip to the front lines in France and I learned my best friend had been captured and was held in a Black Hand base. That night I convinced Tony's father and another Agent to get me close to the base. I did what I could and brought all those men back. They started treating me like a solider after that instead of just another pretty face." Tony found himself smiling at the familiar story.

Against all odds the underdog came in a proved them all wrong. Even with a possibly defective serum she showed them they couldn't control her but she could control herself.

"In exchange do I get to hear the story of your heart machine?" 

Tony brought a hand up to rest against the hard surface of his chest. "Nowhere near as riveting as your story." He warned.

She smiled a soft Steve smile at him that was all it took for him to concede. She listened as he told her about waking up to a car battery attached to his chest. About how he built the armor right under their noses and they paid for it with their lives.

“And you’ve been Iron Man ever since.” She continued for him with a smile. 

“Well it was a few weeks later the world was introduced to Iron Man, but pretty much.”

She turned her head to the side to regard him, “Why did you wait a few weeks?” 

He looked down to his pale liquid drink, “It wasn’t intentional. The plant had exploded and I couldn’t _not_ hold a press conference. Promised Agent Coulson I would read from the cards, actually promised Pepper and Rhodey too, but got caught up in the moment and told the world I was Iron Man."

Stella's snort of laughter was unexpected. "That sounds like your worst nightmare. Everyone finding out that you are Iron Man." She had an expected look on her face, like she anticipated him continuing his story.

"Am I not Iron Man?" He asked keeping his expression neutral. 

"You very much are to the Avengers, but to the world at large you are Tony Stark. Tinkerer, genius, billionaire. The finances behind the Avengers and the man behind the Iron Man suit, not in it." 

He couldn’t keep the confused expression off his face at that one, "Wait, the me from here isn't known as Iron Man?"

Her eyes grew large and she looked shocked, "The world knows you are Iron Man? Tony!” that was the field voice, “That’s so dangerous! Dangerous for you and for everyone you know!" 

"Not really.” He argued, “So far everyone has just come directly at me, it's worked out pretty well so far. I’m not seeing anyone and even when I was with Pepper they didn’t really go after her.” 

Stella was slowly calming down from the shock. "I'm really not comforted by that." She admitted maintaining eye contact. Tony gave a small shrug. Really there was nothing he could do about it now.

Stella signed then held out a hand for his mug. He passed it along without a word. They were quiet as she refilled the cup with warm milk and passed it back to him. “There is one upside I can see to this.” She told him matter of factly. He hummed in question and brought the drink to his lips. “When you start dating Steve you won’t have to worry too much because he can take care of himself.”

He coughed hard once to get the milk to go down the right pipe, then a second time when it just won’t seem to move. Stella was at his side in an instant, a few gentle pats on his back to help clear his throat. When he was able to breathe again without fear of drowning he looked up at her with a glare. 

Watching this woman and her husband walk around on cloud nine together was maddening. They were flaunting what he knew he could never have. Steve had never given him even the slightest indication he would be interested in turning their friendship into anything more and he won’t be the one to push the best thing that ever happen to him to breaking. The fact that Captain-Goddamn-America counted him a friend was more than enough. It had to be. The teasing he could handle from his counterpart, he was more than use to hearing his own voice suggest maddening things, but from her? He didn't think he'd be able to handle hearing the false confidence coming from her.

"Better?" She asked with a hand still on his back.

"No not better." He snapped. "Everyone keeps insinuating that Steve is interested in me when I know for a fact he's not."

Stella's hand on his back tensed and her eyes grew sharp. "Has he told you this?"

Tony moved away from her reach and continued to glare. "No he hasn't _told_ me. I don't need the man to verbalize his dislike of me to know not to pursue him."

"Stop.” She commanded with a swipe at the air to make sure he got the message. “You listen to me. There is no way I can feel the things I do for my husband and know there is another _me_ out there that doesn't feel the same way towards _you_." Her painfully familiar blue eyes bore into him and he had to look away.

She sighed and all the angry tension in the air seemed to disperse. "Does he often end up in your workshop at odd hours or when you're least expecting him?" Tony clenched his teeth and nodded. 

"Does he take an interest in what you do? Ask you questions that he can never hope to understand without years of experience?" He nodded again once he realized she was waiting for him to. 

"Does he cook for you?" There was an episode of extremely overcooked eggs- 

"Does he ask you work related questions he would only know about if he had talked to Pepper?" Last week he had stormed in demanded to know why he was still wearing yesterday's clothes if he had a shareholders meeting to get to. 

"Does he make an effort to get to know you? Balk at the headlines of any gossip column he finds?" More than once he had to convince Steve outrageous lies was how they sell papers. It was no reason to threaten a no doubt, very polite, ass chewing by Captain America. 

"Does he-he close his sketch book when you walk into a room?" Stella paused and he took that as a sign he should acknowledge that truth as well.

When she stayed silent after his nod, he glanced up at her and she immediately took his face in her hands. "Tony, please understand everything I just listed is exactly what I did before my Shellhead and I were engaged. They are things I still do to this day. Those small seemingly random things are how I found a way to be closer to him.”

She moved one of her hands from his face to brush through his hair asking softly, "Do you catch his eye sometimes and he'll start to blush for no reason?" Tony murmured a soft “Yes” trying not to lean into her soft touch. "That happens because he’s thinking about you in that moment and it’s almost as if you’ve caught him.”

She ran her fingers through his hair again and rested them on the back of his head, her other hand cupping his jaw, gently holding him in place. “Tony, don’t believe for a moment I doubt your worth. I know who you are, inside and out. After getting to know you, after spending time with you, how could I not love you?” She gave a soft laugh, “I willingly married you after all.”

Tony stared into her blue eyes. The blue eyes of his Steve framed by delicate cheekbones and perfectly shaped eyebrows. “But what if you’re wrong about him?”

She gave him a small smile and shifted his face down to kiss his forehead, “As Captain America who is married to Iron Man, I know I’m not wrong.”

*** Day 3

Tony

"Alignment good? Perfect. Just a few minor calibrations." The clicking of Reed was a steady pace as he tapped away at the machine in front of him.

"I thought you said this was ready when we were on the phone Reed." A blue eyed Tony called out standing with his hand in his pockets in the middle of the chaotic lab. 

"It was." The scientist objected, twisting to tug at the second ring on the barrel of his machine. "The energy is heavily fluxing more than my counterpart in Universe 5694 had calculated and we are adjusting accordingly."

"You made a miscalculation?" Tony asked as his gaze lingered on a set of small machines laid out on the workbench next to him. 

"Yes. But not me. My counterpart. The other Reed thought this might be a problem." Tony turned to his counterpart, not meaning to match his exasperated expression but feeling it all the more. Stella and Sue had come into the room a few minutes ago, the oldest Richard child, Valery, was chattering away with Isaac about something only he and their fathers would be able to understand.

All and all, Tony had been hoping for a little more excitement. Maybe even for Johnny to set something on fire. But Johnny was swept away by Peter almost as soon as they'd stepped through the lobby. The pieces laid out on the workbench looked like it would be able to sustain a sizeable spark if he were to just- "There. That should do it." Reed announcing tapping a few more keys then throwing a switch on the side of the machine.

It whirled to life; a loud hum filled the air. Stella and Sue moved closer still talking in soft tones.

"Are you ready Tony?" She asked coming to stand just behind him. 

"Will you still be happily married to my asshole counterpart?" 

Stella looked over at her husband as if she were thinking about it before stepping up beside him and taking his arm. "He's grown on me. I'm afraid I'm stuck with him for a while longer." She failed to hide her teasing smile as his counterpart smiled at her. 

"You're damn straight you’re stuck with me." He replied kissing her temple. 

"Then there is nothing keeping me here. Fire away Reed." Tony sighed theatrically.

"Good bye Tony. Good luck with Steve, even though you really don't need it." She called.

Reed flipped down another switch on the machine and the rings on the barrel started to fill with a bright blue.

"Pull the stick out your ass so he can shove his up here." His counterpart called hand raised in a half-assed farewell. "Tony!" Stella gasped before her cheeks turned slightly pink.

The blue had made it to the end of the barrel then Reed flipped another switch.

"What? If he had his own Captain he probably wouldn't have been such a sour puss the entire time."

The light shot out and engulfed Tony, then extended to the nearby Tony and Stella. Bathing them in a soft blue haze.

"Reed!" They heard Sue cry then they were standing in a vast empty room. Clearly not Reed's lab.   

***

Tony blinked a few times trying to get his vision to focus; the room was just so bright. He heard Stella gasp then used the sound to focus on her figure. Once the spots stopped dancing in front of his eyes he realized she was staring at something.

Turning around he came face to face with a pretty brunette almost as tall as he was. Her eyes looked just like the eyes he saw staring back at him in the mirror. In fact most of her features looked like his. It almost looked like the equivalent to the warped image of Steve he'd been seeing in Stella.

"I'll be damned." The brunette sighed, her gaze shifting from him to the couple standing behind him. 

"Tony?"

Tony's gaze snapped to the left so fast the possibility of whiplash occurred to him. It was Steve. His-the Steve from his world. "Oh thank God you're alright." Steve exhaled taking a few steps forward bringing his hand up and hesitating a moment before it settled on Tony’s shoulder. "It's so good to see you."

***

"Oh thank God you're alright." He choked out. Before he could stop himself he was eating up the space that separated them. He made an aborted motion to wrap Tony in a hug but caught himself and settled his hand on his shoulder. "It's so good to see you."

"It's good to see you too Steve." Tony smiled up at him. They were in an endless white room, presumably a space between dimensions, it had only been three days but Tony had never felt more at home than just looking up into Steve's happy smile.

"God damn I make a good looking man." The feminine voice sounded deeply amused. "Really, both of you, good job on the facial hair. Way to keep it classy yet completely debauched. If I'd ever really given it much thought I would have come up with something similar." The female version of himself, he knew now, was tearing down the uncertain tension that had built in their void less space.

"Not so bad yourself." He heard his double comment, "The breasts are a nice addition. And I see you have a glowing circle of light in your chest that seems to be all the rage between us."

With three Tony Stark's in one space there was a possibility he would get blamed for the orgy that broke out, even though he hadn't said a word.

"And then there is the female version of Steve." The female Tony was standing in front of the couple he'd spent the past few days living with.

"Stella." She replied holding out a hand. A wicked gleam started in his female counterpart's eye, really the only warning the room got before the temperature spike about a hundred degrees. He couldn't make out what they had said right before the short brunette jumped Stella. Bypassing her offered hand, she had wrapped her arms around Stella's neck and used the hold to bring herself up to plant one on Stella's shock slacked mouth. The female him wrapped her legs around Stella's waist as the height difference caused her feet to leave the ground.   

***

"And then there is the female version of Steve." Toni said standing in front of the couple that had appeared with his Tony.

"Stella." She smiled, holding out a hand. The look that suddenly appeared in Toni's eye Steve knew was beyond the friendly nature.

"You're married to Tony Stark." 

The blonde's smile grew larger. "I am."

"Oh good." Then she attacked. There really weren't other words to describe it other than an attack. Toni had taken the poor woman completely off guard and wrapped her limbs around her much like a baby monkey would to its mother. The kissing probably wasn't something from the monkey analogy that was all Toni. Every Tony he'd met so far came complete with that 'I do what I want attitude'.

"Of all the things I've been expecting her to do this is probably the one I would have preferred." His counterpart commented standing a little to the left of him and his Tony. "Her other ideas seemed a little, more aggressive."

"More aggressive then climbing another women like a tree?" His Tony asked steadfastly watching the blonde trying to gently extract the clingy brunette from her person. Steve had to restrain himself from touching him again. How was it possible to miss someone so much in such a short amount of time?

"Considering she mentioned her Captain America collection would be complete if she could bring home a female, I'd much rather prefer this then her trying to incapacitate her." His double supplied. 

"Are you sure that's not what she's doing now?" Steve asked. 

His counterpart sighed and brought a hand up to cradle his forehead, "I can't believe I'm saying this but I know the difference between Toni's quickie make out sessions, and her scheming make out tactics. This is clearly the acts of a desperate woman."

"Alright, break it up. I think because Stella is my wife I'm more upset than turned on right now." The male, and apparently married, Tony said stepping towards them. The blonde’s grip on Toni's hips finally pulled the clinging woman off her and to her own feet. 

"It's nice to meet you too." Stella said around the full flush of her face.

"Pleasure's all mine." Toni purred batting her eye lashes.

Steve decided he should probably intervene before something drastic happened. Like Toni deciding she really did want to bring home a female version of himself. "Do you have any idea where we are?"

"Our Mr. Fantastic made a miscalculation and landed us here. I'm assuming you're world is here due to the same miscalculation." The blue eyed Tony supplied.

"Highly unlikely two Reeds from two different universes would make the exact same mistake and land two different parties of three here.” Tony pointed out. “He did this intentionally; we’re here for a reason."

"Maybe he really is evil?" Steve offered. His male and female counterparts sent him identical considering looks. 

The blue eyed version of Tony shook his head, "Our Reed can't be evil. He had his opportunity when we were back in college; he's married and has a kid now. Granted that doesn't stop some but if Reed is behind this it wouldn't be for malicious purposes."

Toni was nodding her head in agreement. "Our Reed just doesn't have an evil bone in his body, and if he did he would at least hint at me joining his cult."

The female version of himself, who looked an awful lot like his mother, set a hand on her husband’s arm. They shared a silent look before she smiled and he rolled his eyes with a huff and a small smirk of his own. Curious.

On his other side he caught Toni hip checking her husband and glancing at him from under her eyelashes. His hand settled over her neck and he leaned down to murmur something in her ear before running down her spine to rest at her lower back. Peculiar.

A thick tension settled over the group, even Tony was fidgeting. What was going on?

“Okay this is killing me, what are you all doing?” Tony snapped at his side. “I feel like I’m being silently judged before a beheading.”

Stella and Toni shared a look before Toni shrugged and motioned her forward. “They’re trying to figure out a polite way to ask if Cap here would be willing to go down on a man.”

“Tony!” Stella said throwing a disapproving look at her husband.

“Thank you!” Toni cried throwing her arms up. "You can’t seriously be mad at the man for that. We all know we're stubborn as hell and trying to ask a man from the 1940’s if he does indeed like dick will be one of the biggest obstacles their relationship will have.”

The blue eyed Tony nodded along, “It’s helping them get to the end game because this" he motioned between Steve and Tony, "this is painful to watch."

Steve felt his face heat up and noticed from the corner of his eye Tony wouldn’t look his direction.

A soft hum filled the air and a circular door way opened, showing the inside of Reed's lab. The sound grew louder as another portal opened, showing another version of Reed's lab.

"Looks like the party is over kiddies. Everybody gather up your clothes and make your way to the exit." 

"That was in terrible taste Toni." Her husband mock scolded her. 

"Oh you know you're thinking about my offer from yesterday morning. You know the one, me watching you be all needy." Steve's own cheeks darkened a shade as the couple moved towards him. 

"Not now." His counterpart muttered. 

"Not a no." She sing-songed back at him.

Steve stepped up to the couple offering a hand, "Thank you. For letting me get to know you and your team." 

His counterpart took his hand in a firm handshake, "Any time." 

Steve turned to Toni who ignored his hand and wrapped him in a hug, her arms going around his neck. "Big oaf.” She whispered in his ear, “The serum must not have worked on your eyes because he clearly loves you. Don’t worry so much about scaring him away. I know me, you can’t do it.”

Steve squeezed her back, "We'll see." He whispered. She moved away to take her husband's hand and smiled at him.

***

"I guess this is where we go our separate ways and pretend this never happened." Tony offered smiling at his counterpart and Stella. 

"Nothing wrong with remembering what we talked about." Stella said planting a hand on her hip.

Tony glanced at Steve who was hugging his female counterpart. "Unless all the little things have been taken out of context and what happens in the next few days causes me to lose my best friend.”

"Oh stop that. He loves you. I can almost see the stars he thinks you've hung." Tony gave a soft chuckled that came out as more of a scoff. Stella moved forward and took his face in her hands, making sure she was the center of his focus. "You listen to me Anthony Edward Stark. When something does happen you have to promise me you wouldn't shut him out because you think he deserves better. All the love and affection you have for him is more than enough." She leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "You'll see." She released his face with a soft smile and stood next to her husband. 

“Just don’t fuck it up huh?” His counterpart teased. 

“You stop that too.” Stella said grabbing his hand.

There was a Reed Richards in each portal now, watching them eagerly. One was stretched slightly making his upper body and neck appear longer and the other was practically on his tip toes trying to see in.

"We are going to go towards the portal that doesn't have the creepy elastic man if it's all the same to you." Stella gave Toni a halfhearted exasperated look, "This is coming from the gal who flies around in a tin can?"

Toni gave her a considering look, "On second thought I want her," she knocked her knuckles against her husband's arm, "Steve baby, fetch."

Steve wrapped his arms around his wife's waist, "No Toni, no." He gave the other couple a smile and without warning picked his wife up bridal style and started walking towards their universe followed by Toni’s threats to be put down or else.

With a laugh Stella and Tony waved after them. Stella cast a glance at her husband then lowered a shoulder and lifted him off his feet in a fireman carry. "Stella!" He cried in surprise before huffing and settled onto her shoulder.

Tony and Steve watched the couples walk away with equal parts envy and happiness.

At the entrance to the portal Toni flailed in her husband's arms and lurched to look back at the male couple standing in the white space. "Oh! Tony darling, don't forget to show Steve the spank bank you have of him. You know the one on your private server!” 

"You are a brat sometimes." Her husband sighed.

Tony could only blink after them, his mouth open in surprise.

“Did you just rat out a man’s private stash?” The blue eyed Tony asked with a laugh from over Stella’s shoulder. 

“Which reminds me," Stella said turning on her heel, husband and all, so she was facing them, "Steve, make sure show Tony the drawings you have of him. They’re very detailed.” 

Steve felt his face flame thinking about some of the more suggestive ones. 

Toni cackled from across the space, "If he doesn't share just let him know it's not fair that he was able to see you naked and there was no reciprocation!"

With a flash of light the four of them were gone, leaving Tony and Steve standing in the empty white space.

“Tony I-”- Steve cut himself off, unsure of what type of conversation they were about to have now that they were alone.

He didn’t get a change to recapture the thought as a familiar flash of blindingly rainbow colors light lit up the space.

***

Standing staring each other down from across a workbench in the lab wasn't how Tony thought their return would happen. He didn't know what to expect, but this definitely wasn’t it. He needed to get away before Steve decided he needed to be the first out of the room.

“I need a drink.” He announced not waiting for Steve’s response before he started for the door.

“Please don’t run away.” Steve said softly halting him in his tracks. Tony bit the inside of his cheek, how could he deny a request like that?

Not leaving wasn’t the same as not looking at him. If he managed this conversation without looking at him he could leave with a shred of his pride and hopefully be able to salvage something of the friendship he had worked so hard to maintain.

The saying goes it’s easier to rip a Band-Aid off than go slow.

“Is that why you always close your sketchbook when I walk into the room? Because you’re drawing me?”He felt his voice sounded steady even though he didn’t feel it. Steve was silent for a moment and in that span Tony was worried that was it, it only took one question to fold this house of cards. All thanks to the delusional yet happily married couples.

“Yes. Do you have compilations of me too?”

Tony gave a humorless smile at that. “Yeah. Which I guess is pretty creepy seeing as you don’t swing that way.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time.” Was his easy answer. 

That had Tony turning on his heel to openly stare at the man, hoping he hadn’t misunderstood that. “What?”

Steve had set his shield on the nearby workbench, his gloves neatly placed on top of it. He was facing Tony with his feet planted, tension thick in his shoulders. “I said it wouldn’t be the first time. With a man that is.” He elaborated with a shrug.

“So it doesn’t bother you?” He asked hesitantly, “That I think of you that way?” 

Steve walked around the work bench, stopping a few feet away. “I can’t get too mad at you when mine is no better. I think we’re even there.”

Tony felt a breath of relief leave him and then gave Steve a smirk. “Well I don’t think I’ve been happier to be wrong.”

Steve smiled back at him, his posture relaxing further "I was wrong too if it makes you feel better."

"It kind of does until I realize we were wrong about the same and we could have been spending our spare time making out." He half joked. Suddenly Steve was in his personal space and he had half a moment to be irritated that he had to look up to meet Steve's impossibly blue eyes.

One of Steve big hand settled just over Tony’s hip bone while his other hand moved to the back of his head. Tony's hand found Steve’s bicep and the other rested over the cord of muscles over his ribs.

"I'm going to kiss you now." Steve whispered pulling him closer. 

"Good. Kissing sounds good."

The space between their bodies was so hot Tony felt like it was actually burning him and the soft lips against his did nothing to put that extinguish that heat. They moved together just as perfectly as they did anything else. Tilting his head to find a better angle had Steve chasing his lips to keep them pressed together.

Steve's fingers had worked their way under his shirt, he had felt the fabric come lose from where he’d tucked it in. "Tony. What is this?" Steve whispered before recapturing his lips.

"A very lucrative dream. Stop talking you'll wake me up." He answered in a rush but apparently not quick enough as Steve had moved his kissing the skin at his neck.

"You have something in your pants." He breathed against the sensitive flesh.

"And it would currently like to be touching the something in your pants."

"Yes, but _this_." He pushed against Tony's hip with his fingers and there was a faint paper sound.

What?

"Oh! Code!" Tony replied stepping back to take off his outer shirt, barely missing smacking Steve in the jaw from the quick movement. How had he missed that? Oh right, big blond super soldier had been standing less than 3 feet from him for the past 40 minutes. His train of thought tended to go out the window when he had Steve's full attention. The papers were tossed to the counter in 6 stacks of 12.

"Got bored one night, rewrote pretty much all of-" his explanation was cut off by Steve threading his fingers through Tony’s hair, and pacing one big hand over the curve of his jaw and pulling him into another heated kiss.

"Tell me later." Steve growled after he had thoroughly detailed Tony's train of thought.

 

***

 

"Opinions of the overall experiment?"

"If the scale were based on percentages I would give you a 100% on the idea and a 87.3% on the execution because you had available sources of information that you didn't take advantage of. Overall I feel the plan was a success."

"I agree, but would give you a 97.4% with execution from this end. Allowing the influential party to know beforehand the partnership was to be of a homosexual nature helped alleviate the philological stress associated with the issue that was for the individual, a taboo topic."

"Do we agree this was successful enough to pass along to the next universe?"

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

"I shall forward all our notes on to universe 467. Gentlemen, it has been a pleasure working with you."

 "Likewise."

"As always."

 

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt Fic: [ Live Journal ](http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/15292.html?thread=32669116)
> 
> 12/20/2013: Self Beta-ed (again) Separated some paragraphs, made the dialog easier to follow.  
> 1/2/2014: Minor Editing for the addition of a Clint Eastwood reference.


End file.
